Shelby Potter and the Goblet of Fire
by The Unsuspected Evil Butterfly
Summary: Shelby WAS scared when her name came out of the Goblet of Fire. But, on second thoughts, who cared if someone wanted her, Harry Potter's twin dead? As long as she has her best friend Draco for help and the privlige of dating fit boys she's good! Draco/OC
1. Shelby

-The Unsuspected Evil Butterfly-

Shelby Potter

Chapter 1- Shelby

Petunia, Vernon and Dudley Dursley were a very happy, normal family. In fact, that's about all they could ever have wanted- to be normal. They were extremely wary of things that were strange. However, they were all perfectly content, except for one thing; they had a secret.

Petunia Dursley's sister was of a most peculiar disposition. She was, in fact, undeniably odd. Lily Potter and Petunia had also had a bit of a problem when they were young, and this a part of the reason that Petunia felt uncomfortable about odd things. Although, she did sometimes feel quite sad about the way she and her little sister had broken off- and all because of that filthy, skulking boy…

So, anyway, that's how the Dursleys saw the world…

It was the night of October thirty-first, 1981. The sky was pitch-black and the darkness was only broken by the street lights on Privet Drive.

Suddenly, at the end of the street, a tall figure appeared. As he moved into the light, it was revealed that he was an elderly man wearing sweeping, brightly coloured robes and sporting an extremely long beard and hair, both of which were silvery-white.

He progressed down the street until he reached the front yard of No. 4. There he stopped and pulled from his sleeve what appeared to be a silver cigarette lighter. Raising it into the air, he clicked it twelve times, sucking all the light from the street so that nobody at all would be able to look out the window and see anything.

"Now, Hagrid, Professor," said the man gently. "Now you will be released from the disillusionment charm."

In the dark, safe from prying eyes, he pulled a wand from his sleeve and tapped it on two points in the air.

If anyone could have seen anything, they would have seen a prim, severe looking woman wearing a plain set of long black robes and a tall, pointed black hat, as well as a gigantic man dressed in a bulky over-coat and with lots of shaggy black hair. The large man was holding a small blue bundle and the woman a pink one.

"Oh, Dumbledore! Lily and James, not Lily and James!" she cried. "How could it have happened, Albus?"

"Yes, I do think this is very disappointing, Minerva. Not only have Lily and James Potter left us, they seem to have also proved for us that not all of my foolproof plans are indeed foolproof…" the old man replied, taking up the pink bundle from her.

She sobbed a little, but relinquished the bundle. He then turned to the big man. Yowling silently, he too passed his bundle to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore nodded at Minerva, who took a shuddering breath and then waved her wand, producing a large wicker basket that had a large, squashy cushion and a thick blanket inside. She moved it to No. 4's doorstep.

He placed both of the bundles on the cushion and moved the blankets around. All of a sudden, there were two miniscule faces among the blankets; one petit with a few gingery-red curls on her head and the other chubby with a tuft of black hair.

Both babies had a scar on their faces, the black-haired boy had a glowing lightening bolt on his forehead and the red-headed girl a shimmering silver love-heart on her cheek.

"Ahhh…" Dumbledore breathed. "Young Harry and Shelby, still as adorable as the day I first beheld them. So amazing how they are twins, yet they look nothing alike… What do you think, Hagrid?"

The big man gave a large gasp and said shakily, "They l-look jus' like L-Lily and J-James! Yeh hear tha' yeh two? Jus' like yer folks…" At his final coo, the two babies opened their eyes in sync and were blinking around at their surroundings with confusion.

The boy had bright green eyes and the girl had hazel. This was too much for Hagrid and Minerva both, as they both turned away and began crying.

Dumbledore, on the other hand, simply gave each of them a gentle kiss on the forehead and wrapped the blankets more tightly around them. Immediately, both settled down and went back to sleep. He then stroked their cheeks and placed an envelope on top of them. It was addressed to Petunia Dursley.

Then he stepped away, holding out his arm to Minerva, who took it.

"Come," he said calmly. "We have much to discuss…By the way, Hagrid, thankyou for your service in getting them here tonight. Will you be fine on the journey back to Hogwarts?"

Hagrid moved over to a clump of branches and took from under them a gigantic black motorcycle, complete with a sidecar.

"I should be righ' Professor. I hope Sirius Black hasn' done nothin' stupid. His best mate, dyin' on 'im like tha'!" he said.

Dumbledore smiled kindly.

"Worry not; I will keep a close eye on him, Hagrid. That letter that I've left with the children explains that if anyone comes for them bearing the Hogwarts coat of arms, then they should be taken away. I mean for those people to be Sirius and Alice Longbottom, as they were named guardians. And now, we must be away! Safe journey, Hagrid."

Hagrid nodded, gave a final sob, and then kicked the bike into life and got on it. Then he pressed a button and the bike rose into the air. He turned the handle, making a snarling noise and then was away.

Dumbledore and Minerva, who had been watching Hagrid's progress, now turned and walked to the end of the street, Minerva still holding Dumbledore's arm.

At the end of the street, Dumbledore took out his silver thing and clicked it, restoring the lights to the lamp posts. He then turned, with Minerva still holding his arm, and both of them vanished away into nothingness.

That morning, Petunia Dursley went out to put the milk bottles out, humming to herself. As she opened the door and bent down, however, she saw something incredible; a baby boy and a baby girl, both of whom were entirely reminiscent of…

"The Potters!" cried Petunia. "VERNON!"

Nearly ten years had passed since that day. It was July the thirty-first, 1991. Shelby and Harry Potter sat in their room, each of them hugging their knees, each of them staring absently out the single window that they shared.

They were both dressed in plain, neat clothes and were both properly filled out. They were both clean. It was therefore fair to say that they were considerably well looked after.

There was silence in the room. Shelby Potter, however, had only allowed this silence to continue for so long because she sensed that her brother wouldn't have spoken back to her. Now, however, one of her amazing highs was building up inside her, and she just had to talk.

"Hey, Harry? Is it just me, or does Dudley look a little nicer today? Because he was being all polite to you at lunch and he is absolutely never polite to you, but today he was, and Harry, it's our BIRTHDAY! Why aren't you looking happy?"

Harry dejectedly turned his black head to look at his sister.

"Don't you ever wish that our parents were here to see us grow up, Shell? I mean, another birthday has come and will go and they aren't here! I miss them…"

Shelby snorted.

"Harry, we've never known them. How can you miss them? And besides, here, with Aunt Petunia and Dudley, although maybe not Uncle Vernon, we have a home, a comfortable home."

"The only reason that Aunt Petunia likes us is because we remind her of Mum!"

"Oh, Harry, get a grip! We shouldn't question things like that…"

"Shelby, I think that Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon and Dudley all like you better than me!"

"HARRY! Don't ever let me hear you say that again! The idea that we love Shelby more…" said a voice from behind them. They both turned around. Standing there, with her hands on her hips and wearing a floury apron was Aunt Petunia. She walked over to Harry and embraced him.

"We do love you, Harry. Really. We just don't know what to say to you, you being so upset about your parents all the time…"

"Are you talking about everyone, or just yourself?" Harry asked stubbornly, but still snuggling into the hug.

Petunia smiled.

"As far as Vernon is concerned, he only has one son. He'll treat any other child second best to Dudley. And Dudley is just as important to me, too. But I will always love you two the same as him, because I've raised you long enough for you to be my own children. I just want you both to know that."

She stood up then, holding her back.

"Well, then. Go off and play! I've got your birthday cake in the oven, and Aunt Marge will get here at around 6, so she'll be at the party. Dud has your birthday presents in his room, so I want you both to stay out of there. And your Uncle has a surprise for you. So there! We all love you very much!" she finished with a smile.

At this point, Shelby stood up, clapped her hands together excitedly and ran out of the room, pulling her hair into a ponytail with an elastic band on her wrist as she went. Petunia smiled some more and started to chase after her, trying to beat her to Dudley's room, just in case.

Harry sighed, reassured by his aunt's soothing words, and went to find Dudley for a bit of a tournament on their shared playstation.

At 5:45, Aunt Petunia went running through the house, shouting, "She's coming, she's coming!" In the twin's room, Harry quickly ran a comb through his messy hair one more time, with no success, then hurriedly shoved his arms through the sleeves of his blue checked-pattern shirt, and quickly did the buttons up.

Shelby put a silver ribbon in her dark red very-high ponytail and smoothed the creases out of her blue knee-length skirt. When she was certain that she looked good, she ran downstairs, pulling Harry with her.

When Harry and Shelby got to the kitchen, there was a surprise waiting for them. Piers Polkiss, Harry and Dudley's best friend was there. Shelby, who secretly liked Piers, shoved a hand through her ponytail, tousling it and smiled at him with a rather coquettish air.

He smiled back shyly, because he secretly thought she was very pretty, but knew he could never say so because it would most likely unite Harry and Dudley in a way that none would ever see again. They were both very protective of Shelby.

Petunia was just at the oven, taking a gigantic looking cake out of it. Shelby craned her neck to get a glimpse of it, but she threw a dishcloth over it. "No, no, no!" she chanted, swinging the large thing over onto the gleaming granite-topped bar.

Harry went stand next to Piers and the two started talking. Shelby went over to Dudley, with whom she'd always retained a close relationship, and they sat patiently together, not saying anything.

As the clock struck 6, Aunt Petunia ran into the door, opening it just in time for Aunt Marge to barge in through the door, her bulldog, Ripper, growling at her feet. Uncle Vernon pulled up the rear carrying Marge's several heavy bags.

"Where's my Dudders? And where's Shelby? Ahhh, Harry!" Marge roughly embraced Harry, who had just appeared in the hallway and who was now squirming slightly, but he put up with it. Next, Shelby and Dudley came skidding into the room. While Dudley got his huge hug, Shelby got on the floor and started patting Ripper. He gave a low, happy growl as she rubbed his head around his ears.

Next she was enveloped in a massive hug. Both she and Harry got away with a crisp fifty pound note in their hands. Dudley had a twenty pound. Then, she motioned to Uncle Vernon, who dropped two large, brightly wrapped presents at the twins' feet. At once, they swooped down and opened them, tearing the wrapping apart while Marge watched with satisfaction.

Shelby's face lit up as she beheld the mountain of beautiful fantasy fiction books. There was all sorts of things in there, and she loved them all immediately. Harry was very happy with his gift, too. He had been given books too, however his were on the subject of life in England when the Tudors were in charge, a subject which he was particularly interested in. His favourite part of this time frame were all the stories of evil witches.

After the party was all done and Piers and Aunt Marge had left (Piers for his home and Marge for a quiet dinner at a restaurant in town), Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and Dudley took Harry and Shelby's presents down into the kitchen, so they could open them. Both twins were excited, because this was the first time ever that a fuss had been made about keeping presents secret in the Dursley household.

As the door opened in front of them, both Harry and Shelby were faced with two largish presents which both had two envelopes on top. There was a loud _Pop! _from outside. Harry went to the biggest present, which had a dome shape on top and looked at the envelopes. On the first one, his name was written. He ripped it open, revealing a card that had most of the usual birthday banter written inside, signed by each of the Dursleys.

Shelby had done the same with her envelope. Then, simultaneously, both Harry and Shelby reached for their other envelopes. These were undeniably odd. There was an address on each of them, written in green ink.

_Mr Harry Potter/Miss Shelby Potter_

_The second largest bedroom_

_Number 4 Privet Drive, Surrey._

Both of them looked at their envelope in shock, and then turned to look at each other. Aunt Petunia smiled kindly and said, "Go on. These are more important than your presents."

They ripped the letter out of the envelopes quickly and unfolded the heavy parchment. Shelby read hers aloud.

_We are very happy to say that you have been accepted at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

She looked up, eyes shining in wonder.

"We're wizards!" she said. "Oh, Harry, I knew we must be something like that, what with all the strange things that happen around us and all! Oh, goodness, I never would have thought that this would happen! We're going to a wizarding boarding school!"

Harry looked disbelieving, but still thoroughly excited.

"So, Dudley," he said to their cousin. "How long did it take to make these, then?"

Dudley shook his head grimly.

"I didn't make them," he answered with a voice that was completely honest. "They came in the mail this morning, early this morning, actually, and Mum rushed out to get your presents while you were still asleep. You should open them now."

Shelby wasn't one to waste time. She savaged the paper on the box shaped gift and then fell back gasping in shock.

"Oh, a kitten!" she squealed.

The paper fell away from the gift. There was a carry-cage that is typically used for transporting pets, with an adorable black kitten with green eyes like lamplights and smoky 'socks' on his front paws inside. When he saw Shelby's face, he did a cute frisk in the cage and then started scratching at the wire door.

Shelby laughed in delight and immediately opened the door and picked the kitten up. She stroked it, and then smiled somewhat wickedly. "I'm calling him Thirteen."

"Why?" asked Uncle Vernon, screwing up his nose in his effort to find out what the name meant.

"For the irony. You know: black cat with green eyes is the assistant of a witch, and is therefore unlucky to see, the number thirteen is unlucky, etc…irony."

Vernon bit his lip, apparently displeased by the logic.

Now Harry advanced, somewhat cautiously, on his present. He slowly tore the paper away from the odd shape, and when his gift was revealed, he couldn't help but feel extremely speechless.

He had been given a magnificent snowy owl in a splendid golden cage. The owl balefully turned her beautiful head to face him and gave a feeble hoot, her amber eyes flashing. Harry slowly put a finger between the bars of the cage, meaning to stroke her silvery-white feathers. She bent over and nibbled gently on them in a display of affection.

Harry shivered slightly as she touched him, but when he recovered, he put as much of his hand as possible through the bars and started scratching her head. She closed her eyes in bliss.

"Thank you Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon! She's…she's…" Harry said, struggling to describe his owl.

Petunia gave him a glowing look and she and Vernon embraced.

"It was nothing, Harry dear."

"But, Aunt Petunia, where on earth did you buy an owl?" asked Shelby, frowning.

Her aunt gestured behind her, to the foyer, where the pop had come from.

"I have someone here to explain it to you…" she said, as a tall, rugged man with a mop of curly black hair and piercing, stormy-grey eyes walked into the room, causing Shelby to shriek and Harry to withdraw his hand from the inside of his owl's cage so quickly that he nearly got stuck. Petunia, however (ignoring the shifty looks that Vernon and Dudley were giving the man) turned around and pulled him into the twins' immediate line of sight.

"Harry, Shelby…this is your godfather…Sirius Black."

Harry and Shelby stared at Sirius, gaping openly. Sirius gave a small, foolish wave and smile and said,

"You look just like your parents."

Shelby shook her head, trying to clear it and put one hand through her hair.

"You're our godfather?" she asked a little shakily, but with an air of arrogance. Sirius smiled at the sound of her voice, like it brought back a wonderful memory.

"Ahhh, the voice of Lily Evans with all the arrogance of James Potter! A beautiful sound that I never thought I'd hear!"

"Well? Answer her question!" said Harry.

_And the voice of James Potter with the slightly girly air of Lily Evans. A sound that I never expected to hear, and one that makes me feel nervous! _Sirius thought.

"Yes, I am your godfather. And I have been sent to explain your letters to you."

"Why haven't we met you before, then?" Shelby demanded.

"Yes, I find it hard to believe that any real godparent of ours would just shut himself away from us for ten years!" Harry backed her up.

Sirius was smiling sadly.

"It was what Dumbledore wanted," he stated plainly. Shelby screwed up her nose in confusion.

"Who's Dumbledore?" she asked.

"Who's Dumbledore?" Sirius repeated incredulously. "Why, Dumbledore is only the greatest wizard of the age! Now, let me start like this: why don't you believe me, Harry? Why don't you believe your letter?"

"I-I- it seems really far-fetched. I mean, magic doesn't exist."

"You are wrong. Magic does exist. Look at Shelby. She believes it well enough. Just think about it; Haven't you ever made strange things happen whenever you were angry or upset, or even excited?"

Harry thought about that. He remembered all the times that weird things had happened around him.

"Yes, I suppose so," he said slowly. "But Shelby can actually control her magic. Just this morning she made her dress get up and do a dance with my shirt and trousers."

Shelby blushed as Petunia looked thoroughly shocked.

"Shelby!" she exclaimed, alerting Sirius to her presence again.

"Excuse me, Petunia, but I think it's best if I talk to them about this alone. You already know what happened," he said gently. She nodded and steered her husband and son out of the room. Sirius turned back to the twins.

"Shelby," he began. "That is indicative of enormous ability, being able to control your powers. Only the strongest of wizards and witches were able to. You seem to have your parents' talent. What Harry does is more usual. But, Harry, do you still need proof that magic exists?"

And he pulled a long piece of wood that looked like a wand out of his pocket and tapped Shelby's birthday card with it. The card immediately began to hover, and then zoomed a complete lap around the table before coming to rest in its normal position. The twins stared at it in wonder.

"Where can we get one of those?" Shelby asked, pointing at the wand. Sirius grinned.

"All that later…right now, I'm telling you about your parents…"

The next morning, Sirius had taken the twins to London on the Underground. They each carried a large suitcase, which contained all of their worldly possessions.

They had been asked if they wished to live with Sirius for the rest of their underage lives (granted that they return to the Dursleys' house every summer holiday for a week until they were seventeen) and had happily accepted. Aunt Petunia had given them a teary farewell and even Dudley looked very red in the face as they left.

They ended up in a street filled with large, grand houses. They stopped in front of number 11 and 13, which were strangely next to each other.

Sirius leaned over to whisper in the twins' ears. "Number 12 Grimmauld Place is right in between 11 and 13."

For a while, nothing happened, and the twins were starting to get impatient. But then, as if it had been inflated, the house appeared, pushing the two on either side of it out of its way.

After it had stopped pushing, Sirius picked up the suitcases and pulled them over to the house's front door. He opened it up using an intricately worked and certainly unique black metal key, and kicked the cases inside.

Then he beckoned to Harry and Shelby to join him. They rushed inside to find a pleasantly warm and brightly coloured house. There was fat comfortable furniture and every surface gleamed brightly. Along the hall, there was a seemingly random wardrobe placed against a wall.

They went with Sirius to the dining room. There was red paint on the walls and a long, fine table that was made of mahogany in the middle. Sirius pointed for them to sit down, and once they were comfortable, he shouted "Kreacher!"

Immediately, a scruffy, soot-covered thing shuffled into the room. It had huge ears and eyes and was about the size of a commercialised goblin. "Yes Master?" it croaked sulkily. "And what a master he is, filthy blood traitor who broke his mother's heart with his wild ways…" he continued under his breath.

The twins looked thoroughly taken aback upon the introduction of this creature, particularly in the light of hearing how the wizard who had murdered their parents was fond of prosecuting Muggleborns, muggles and 'blood traitors'. Sirius, however, kept a cool face and ignored the thing's muttering.

"Harry, Shelby, this is Kreacher, my house-elf. He does the cleaning and cooking around here, and he is responsible for taking care of any job we request. Kreacher," he said darkly, glaring at the elf. "These are the Potters, my godchildren. They are now apart of the family, so you have to act upon their every order to you, do you understand?"

"Yes Master. But Kreacher doesn't like his new master and mistress at all, taking orders from half-bloods, yes, Kreacher's master has told him all about the Potter brats, oh, what would Kreacher's mistress say?"

"Quite unfortunately, Kreacher, you will never hear your mistress again, and, thankfully, neither shall I." Sirius turned to Harry and Shelby. "If one of you has any idea how to make him more bearable, then I leave the task to you."

Shelby smiled, ran her hand through her hair and crouched next to Kreacher.

"Well, then, Kreacher, I'm Shelby, and I am severely sorry that you don't like me, or my brother, or Sirius, but I really hope that you can realise that we actually are nice people and considerate masters. For one, when was the last time you had a bath, or changed your rag? Come with me, we'll get it all sorted out immediately."

Kreacher looked rather taken aback, but nevertheless, his face lit up at the thought of a bath and he went quite willingly with Shelby, who looked over her shoulder to wink at Harry and Sirius, and he was telling her, "The bathroom is just up this way, Mistress Shelby."

All alone now, Sirius took Harry upstairs to let him pick out a bedroom. Harry went through all of the unoccupied ones before deciding that he liked the one that was relatively empty and clean, save for the bed. They unpacked Harry's suitcase together, talking together.

When Shelby emerged from the bathroom with Kreacher, who looked clean, smelled of lavender and was sporting a fluffy black towel which he wore like a toga, she picked a room too.

"Alright, but why on earth you want to sleep in Regulus' room, I'll never know," Sirius said with some conviction as she blatantly refused to sleep in any room other than that of Sirius' dead brother's.

"Well, Sirius, it's just that you said he had been a Death Eater, and then he left. I don't know about you, but I call that brave."

"What ever."

That night, when Sirius was asleep and Harry and Shelby had been sent to bed, Harry came creeping into his sister's room. He got under the covers with her.

"Are you still awake Shell?" he whispered. Shelby turned around to face him.

"Yeah, Harry. What's up?"

"Just thinking…about Mum and Dad…"

"Yeah…but at least they died honourably, instead of running away. I'd hate to think of them as anything less than brave."

"And also, what Sirius told us about…well, you know…"

"You mean how we made Voldemort go away…at least, for now…and how everyone thinks that we (especially you) are big heroes and that, if Voldemort comes back, we (or you) are going to be expected to get rid of him again?"

"…yes, that."

Shelby sighed.

"Well, you shouldn't think about it. What happened has happened and what will be can be dealt with when the time comes. For now, we should just relax and go with the whole wizard thing. Anyway, there's something even more important that I've been thinking about; don't we have a godmother?"

Harry racked his brains.

"We might, actually. I'm going to ask Sirius tomorrow."

"Hmmm…"

And the twins fell asleep together, holding hands, in the way that they had often fallen asleep when one or the other couldn't sleep.

The next morning, Sirius bounded down to breakfast to find them already there, with Kreacher happily sliding fluffy, buttery pancakes onto their plates.

"Pancakes, Master Sirius?" the elf asked jovially, showing him the magically heated pan in his hand. "Mistress Shelby and Master Harry are enjoying theirs, sir!"

"Wow, thanks Kreacher! And here I always thought you were a snotty little dung ball…Shelby, you are a wonder!"

She giggled and ran her hand through her hair, which was all out today.

"Really, Sirius, all he needed was a little prodding in the nice direction. Look, when we go off to Hogwarts, you're going to have to be super nice to him, and make sure you keep him clean and all. And also, Harry and I have something to ask you."

"Really?" he said around a mouthful of pancake.

"Yes," Harry said. "Sirius, do we have a godmother?"

At this, Sirius had taken a sip of coffee from a steaming jug on the counter, and choked and spluttered.

"Your godmother?" he gasped.

"Yes, that's right," Shelby confirmed. Harry nodded. Sirius finally recovered, and then fixed the twins with a serious, sad gaze, his mouth set in a hard line.

"I don't know how to tell you two this, but, well, your godmother…let me just start by saying that her name is Alice Longbottom. She was a great friend of your mum's. And, well…she is mentally unstable. About a month after your parents were killed, she and her husband were tortured into insanity by Death Eaters."

Harry gasped and Shelby's eyes widened in shock.

"You can't be serious," she whispered.

"Oh, but I am. Now, today we are going to get your school supplies and all that."

"Well, as long as we're out, could we go visit her?"

There was silence. And then;

"Well, I'll owl Augusta, her mother-in-law, and we'll see if she will be visiting with Neville today."

And then they continued to eat their breakfast.

**I plan a cute little scene (but still sad) with Shelby and Alice. If you enjoyed this story, please review to get me to continue.**


	2. Alice

-The Unsuspected Evil Butterfly-

Shelby Potter

Chapter Two- Alice

"Alright then, this is the place; Ollivander's."

Sirius and the twins were standing on the streets of Diagon Alley, looking up at the fading sign of Ollivander's. The twins were in awe of the building where they were going to purchase their wands.

They stepped inside and were greeted immediately by a frail-looking old man with silvery eyes.

"Ah! I've been waiting for this! Well, come in, come in, settle yourselves down. Ahhh, Sirius! How is your wand performing, my friend?"

"Just as good as ever."

"Hmm… well, Master Potter, you first, you first. Ahhh, I think this wand might just work for you, give it a wave!" he said, handing Harry a wand from a cardboard box. Harry waved the wand and caused a minor explosion to happen safely in mid-air. Ollivander shook his head.

"No, not that one, I think."

Harry kept trying wands until finally, Ollivander made a strange face and took a wand from one of his many shelves, handing it to Harry. "Try this one…"

As Harry took it in his hands, a flurry of red sparks came out of the smooth stick's tip. Ollivander nodded thoughtfully. Harry waved it, and a golden ribbon flew out of it, twirling around.

"Curious. Very Curious…" Ollivander mumbled.

"What's curious?" Shelby demanded.

"Why, it is very curious that your brother should be destined for this wand when its brother is what gave the both of you your scars."

Harry looked confused, but Shelby merely looked shocked.

"Do you mean that you sold Voldemort his wand? And it is…related to Harry's?"

He nodded again.

"I remember every wand I've sold. That one there is made of holly with a phoenix feather core. Eleven inches. Nice and supple. And the phoenix who gave the feather for that wand gave just one other. And that resides in the wand of the Dark Lord…yes, yew and phoenix feather, thirteen and a half inches. Now, my boy, I think we can expect you to do great things. After all, the Dark Lord has done great things. Terrible, yes. But great…"

Shelby cleared her throat.

"Now, for my wand…" she said boldly. Ollivander jumped, but was immediately into action, clearing away a large number of boxes from shelves.

"Yes, young lady. I knew the moment I saw you that there was only one wand for you. It is totally unique in my store, as I made it as a bit of an experiment many years ago…but I think it would match up to you. Ahhh, here you go!"

He drew back from the boxes and handed one to Shelby, who opened it eagerly, parting the tissue paper wrappings with all haste to reveal a magnificent wand. She drew it out, feeling warmth in her fingers as sparks shot out of it. She gave it a wave and the light in the room dimmed, projecting a starry sky onto the ceiling.

Ollivander smiled with satisfaction.

"That wand," he said ominously. "That wand is certainly one of the most amazing I've ever seen, let alone made. Finding the core was pure chance, and I only recognised the luck of it after I had escaped its danger.

"It is of beech-wood, and the tree that it came from also housed a great terror; a young basilisk, not yet bigger than any normal snake, but still terrifying, and with the use of its death stare. I slew it quickly, using the axe I had brought with me to cut the tree, but there was still a fight. I nearly died a dozen times in just five minutes. But the reward was more than enough.

"The core of your wand is basilisk skin, which I found on the inside of the tree, and the cavity where I put it is reinforced with the beast's venom, to put some extra sting in your curses, and to aid your charms. But I wouldn't go around telling anyone the story of your wand; it could lead to assumptions that you or I are evil."

Shelby looked alive with glee, excitement and wonder at her wand. She carefully stowed it away in the inside pocket of the robes she wore (which Kreacher had found and laundered for her the previous night) and then raised her gleaming hazel eyes to Ollivander's.

"Thank you," she said happily, giving her hand to Sirius, who clasped it tightly. "It's beautiful."

Ollivander inclined his head.

"The wand chooses the wizard, Miss Potter. That much has always been clear to those of us who study wand lore."

Sirius paid for the wands and then they left the shop.

As they wandered down the street, the twins decided that they wanted to check on their animals.

"Please, Sirius? I just don't know how experienced Kreacher is with animals, and I want Thirteen to be happy while I'm gone and-"

"Alright, alright! Just call Kreacher and he'll appear to give you a rundown."

"Kreacher?" Harry said into thin air. There was a cracking noise and then the house elf was standing before them, still wrapped in his towel and holding a soup ladle.

"Master Harry called?" he said respectfully, bowing low to the ground.

"Uh, yeah. Kreacher, me and Shelby…um, we, uh…"

"We wanted to see how Thirteen and Harry's owl are doing," Shelby said, taking charge (as usual). Kreacher bowed again to her.

"Master and Mistress' animals are being well looked after by Kreacher, Miss Shelby. Kreacher has fed them and given the kitten a ball of string to play with and the owl is resting. Also, Master Sirius," he continued, pulling something from the fold of his towel. "Madam Longbottom's owl came in this morning, shortly after Master left. It was carrying this letter for Master…" He handed an envelope to Sirius who wasted no time in slitting it open while the twins watched with bated breath.

His eyes scanned the parchment briefly and then he turned to face Kreacher.

"You may go home. Thank you for your help."

The elf bowed once more and then disappeared with the loud crack. Sirius looked down at the twins.

"Augusta and Neville are visiting Alice and Frank at eleven. She says that she's willing to take you with her herself, but that you should be prepared for some heavy emotional stress. Their condition isn't dangerous to you, but it is extremely saddening."

Shelby and Harry both nodded solemnly.

"I'm prepared," Shelby sniffed.

"Me too," Harry said.

"Well, then. That leaves us one hour to get the rest of your stuff and then I'll have to take you around to St Mungo's. It's not too far from Diagon Alley, but it's in Muggle London, so you'll have to try to look inconspicuous. Good thing that you didn't want your robes, Harry, it'd look a bit strange to the muggles. Let's get a move on."

They bought potions ingredients from the apothecary, two pewter cauldrons from the respective store and textbooks from Flourish and Blotts. Sirius also took Harry and Shelby into a magical pet store to get some owl food and a cat collar.

While Harry continued to look at food, Shelby browsed the shelves of the store, looking at the strange and not-so-strange creatures. Eventually, she had three fluffy purple things pressed into her hand by a member of the staff, who told her to keep them, for no charge.

"They're called puff-skeins. Very cute animals, a very nice little pet for a young lady like you."

She showed Sirius, who laughed and said he would give her something to house them in when they got home and told her to put them in her pocket until that time.

After this, he took the twins with him to a deserted alley, gripped them firmly by the arms and twirled around, making a cracking noise.

The twins experienced a horrible jerking sensation from behind their navels as they were pulled into darkness…

…and reappeared in a crowded street, in front of a dilapidated, run-down window display for a clothes store.

"Where are we?" Shelby asked in interest as she looked around, her round hazel eyes wide with excitement.

Sirius didn't answer, but instead waved at a stout elderly looking woman who was dressed in a peculiar nature, and who was holding the hand of a plump, unhappy looking boy.

"Augusta!" he called. The woman waved and sped up to reach them.

"Sirius, m'boy! How good to see you again! Ahhh, this must be young Harry and Shelby. Yes, I know all about you two. Very unfortunate…Lily and James dead, what a waste of talent and charm. Yes, they were both particular friends of my son and Alice. Such a shame, all four of them attacked like that."

"Yes, it is a shame," Shelby said, her eyes alive with joy as she took in Mrs Longbottom's green dress, red handbag and hat with a stuffed vulture on top. Augusta nodded at her with a gleam of approval in her eye.

"And this is my grandson, Neville. He'll be going to Hogwarts with you. He hasn't shown much of his father's talent yet, but I can't call an owl dead if it's still hooting. He's a good boy, though."

Neville seemed to be trying to hide behind his grandmother and he was blushing furiously, with his eyes glued to Shelby. She smiled at him and he returned it, his face flushing even redder than a tomato.

"Well, then. I'd best be taking this lot in, the healers are expecting us. I'll apparate them to your office, then?"

"Yes, that'll work out nicely. Just come whenever you're ready. Harry, Shelby, behave for Augusta. Bye now!" And Sirius disappeared with the cracking noise.

Augusta took hold of Shelby's hand and turned to one of the dummies in the display of the window.

"We're here to see the Longbottoms," she said firmly. Before the twins could ask if she was alright, the dummy nodded and she stepped right through the glass, disappearing. Neville and Shelby were pulled in with her. Harry shrugged and followed.

The four found themselves in a crowded reception room, bustling with witches and wizards, some looking normal, others in various predicaments of abnormality, such as moving growths and steam spurting out of their ears, and yet others who were walking around in lime green robes, talking importantly and writing on clipboards.

"Who are the people dressed in green?" Shelby asked in interest as they walked past a pair of them.

"They're Healers. Like muggle doctors, but they do their magic with, well, magic," Augusta replied, waving to another group of them. It seemed very obvious that she had been here often. The very thought made Harry, who was already a bit nervous about meeting his insane godmother and her insane husband, quite sad and uncomfortable.

They went straight to the lift and then up to the floor where 'Spell Damage' was dealt with. With Shelby and Neville keeping a firm grip on Augusta's hands and Harry trailing close beside them, they entered the closed ward.

"Miriam, dear!" Augusta exclaimed as she caught sight of a stout, motherly looking healer who was just coming out from behind the bed curtains of someone's living area.

"Hello, Mrs Longbottom," she replied, smiling brightly and sadly at the same time. "Who do you have with you today…"

Augusta waved a hand at Harry and Shelby.

"These are poor Alice's godchildren. They've only just found out about her, poor things, and I certainly couldn't deny them the opportunity to meet her and show our family some support. How are they this morning, Miriam?"

The healer shrugged.

"Same as always; their actual condition isn't getting any better and it's not getting any worse either, but their physical health is declining rapidly." She smiled at them one last time before Augusta marched them firmly to the curtain-enclosed beds that the Healer had just come out of.

"Alright then, Harry, Shelby. I want you to meet Alice and Frank."

The twins looked at their godmother and her husband and they were suddenly overcome by emotion.

Alice Longbottom looked, in a round-about way, like a small child; timid, oblivious and, for the most part, innocent. But then there were the extreme physical differences between her and a child. Her hair had turned pure white, though Sirius had told the twins that she and her husband were only in their early thirties, just like him.

Her skin was sallow and delicate-looking, translucent, and her face was drawn and tired-looking, very bony. There was barely any flesh on her body, which was wrapped tightly in a worn lavender bathrobe.

Her husband seemed to be much the same, although he looked somewhat claustrophobic, as his eyes darted around the room wildly and nervously as the four people entered. He seemed to be slightly more nourished than Alice, probably because he would have extra incentive to eat as a man, but other than that his condition resembled hers acutely.

Augusta drew the curtains around the beds again and the noise attracted Alice's attention (she hadn't really been facing them when they had entered) and she spun around abruptly to face them. Her eyes took in her mother-in-law, searched Neville's face, scrabbled helplessly over Harry and then met with Shelby's.

She seemed to have a spark of intuition in her expression as she then stared openly at her, apparently drinking in the sight of her face. She then seemed confused. She blinked her over-large blue eyes a few times and then frowned.

She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, as though surprised by the lack of movement that she seemed to have in it and then left it closed. Her eyes never left Shelby's face. And then, she drew in a long breath and said, in a wobbly but perfectly sane sounding voice, "Lily? Is that you?"

Shelby let a breath drop. She hadn't expected her godmother to be the talkative kind of insane person. Except that she hadn't looked like that type of insane person before she spoke. In fact, she seemed to have been struggling to remember how to speak. Augusta confirmed her suspicions that Alice had just had a sane moment by bustling out of the room to find the Healer.

Neville seemed to be frozen with shock as he heard his mother's voice. It was hoarse, no doubt because she hadn't used it in approximately ten years, but retained vestiges of a beautiful sound, like a bubbling brook. Harry's head was whipping from Neville to Alice, as if trying to decide whether or not Alice's behaviour was normal.

Alice took another deep breath.

"Wait, you're not Lily. Lily's older than you and she has different eyes and a shorter nose. In fact, you have James Potter's eyes…but other than that, you look just like Lily…WAIT!" she shouted excitedly, a smile spreading on her worn mouth. "You're their daughter! And you, the boy that looks like James with Lily's eyes and nose! You're their son! You're my godchildren!"

She squealed and clapped her hands, jumping up and down, absolutely startling Frank. Then she stopped and turned her gaze on Neville, frowning. "I know that the person who just went out was Augusta. But I don't know who you are, I'm afraid," she said, putting her hands on her hips.

Neville seemed rather taken aback and unable to talk. Then Augusta came back in with the Healer, who immediately came up to Alice with a lit wand and pointed it into her eyes.

"Mrs Longbottom, I'm Healer Miriam Stout," she said. "I have been in charge of your health for the past ten years. I need you to tell me what you know about yourself."

"My name is Alice Therese Longbottom. It used to be Alice Prewitt. I attended Hogwarts for seven years and, upon the completion of my education, married my boyfriend, Frank Longbottom and studied with him to become an Auror.

"I had a son, Neville, with him and became godmother to my best friend Lily's twin babies, Harry and Shelby Potter alongside James Potter's best friend Sirius Black. And something happened…many years ago…and I don't remember anything after that. I don't remember the incident.

"I don't know where I am! And, him, over there, that's Frank, isn't it?" she said fitfully, pointing a long, skeletal finger at her husband. "Why am I alright, but he isn't?" she wailed.

"Shush, shush now Alice!" Augusta said comfortingly. "You and Frank were tortured into insanity ten years ago. You're now in St Mungo's, in the closed ward."

Alice pouted, thinking. "Yes…I remember now…the pain, it was horrible! Oh, Augusta!" she said. "It was Bellatrix, that awful, cruel-hearted bitch! Her and Rudolphus, Rabastan and Barty Crouch's son! It was them!" She was shouting, not really sobbing, seeming upset, but more in an indignant way than in a scared, horrified way. She seemed excited to be making the accusations. Augusta smiled.

"Well, you've not changed one bit, have you dear?" she said fondly, reaching out to pinch her cheek. Alice smiled and swatted her hand away.

"Oh, it'll take more than a torturing to make me any different!" she sang. Then she noticed the twins again.

"Is Sirius taking care of you?" she asked quietly. Shelby nodded solemnly.

"We only met him yesterday, because we'd been living with our aunt and uncle, but he tells us that he's been watching."

"Good, good. If I had been in my right mind these past few years, I would have been watching with him. I love you two, you know. By the way, are you my son, dear?"

Neville looked somewhat shocked still, but he nodded shyly and flushed red. Alice smiled as a tear ran down her cheek and she opened her arms to him. He ran into them and they hugged tightly, Alice sobbing in Neville's hair and Neville pressing himself tightly against her, both crying. Harry and Shelby exchanged a small smile and looked away from the cosy scene.

Healer Stout came over to them and pulled Shelby away from Harry, who looked quizzically after them.

"Listen, Shelby- your name is Shelby, right? Augusta said that Alice said 'Lily, is that you' when she became sane again. I think that she was woken by the strong reminder of Lily, who was one of her best friends. Now, it's very likely that when she goes to sleep and you disappear, she'll go back to the way she was before. So, we'll need you to visit her regularly to try and keep these memories of you in her head, and help her gain total sanity again. Do you think you could do that?"

Shelby looked over her shoulder at Alice and Neville, who were now holding Frank's white, timid hands in their own and she felt tears well up in her eyes as she nodded, smiling sadly. And she began to cry.

I'm Shelby Potter, and this is my life…

"Is this a good compartment, Harry?" I asked, holding the door open while he peeked in. He nodded.

"It's empty."

We went in and dumped our luggage on the floor. "Well then. We're off!"

"Yeah. We're going to a wizard school."

Then, the compartment door opened again and the small, freckled, red-haired boy from the family that Sirius had said hello to on our way onto the platform squeezed himself in.

"Is there room here?" he asked shyly. I nodded vigorously and he put all his stuff on the unoccupied seat in the room, plunking himself onto it too. No one spoke, so I looked out the window at the now racing landscape, extremely bored. After about five minutes, the boy finally piped up.

"I'm Ron. Ron Weasley. Are you the Potter twins?"

I snorted. "That's real delicate of you…" But Harry was looking at Ron with a proud air. "Yeah, we are!" he said impressively, puffing out his chest and parting his hair to bare his scar. "See?"

I gazed at him reproachfully, brushing my own scar with my fingers, but he was too focused on Ron's expression of awe.

"Wow!" he said. "I'm really meeting Harry and Shelby Potter!"

"Yeah, you are," I said aggressively. "But really, we're just normal people with a tendency to murder annoying little snots, so please excuse us if we don't care to sign the photos you doubtless have of us…"

"Huh?" he replied, still staring at Harry's scar. Admittedly, it was way more impressive than mine. His was a scarlet lightning bolt, for crying out loud! Mine was a silvery, somewhat faint love heart. How cliché.

"Let me use dumb person English for you," I said in a mock polite tone. "Shut up about whatever the hell it was that happened some ten years ago."

"Oh. Okay."

Harry gave me an annoyed look. I growled inaudibly and forced my head to turn to the window, not wanting to be apart of their little hero-worship conversation.

Not five minutes later, the door to our compartment opened again. This time, a slight boy with pale blonde hair who was already dressed in his school robes pushed his way in, accompanied by two big-looking guys who looked ridiculously like body guards. I stifled a laugh at the sight of them. It didn't help that they looked really dumb.

"Oh, it's the boy from Madam Malkin's!" Harry said to me from under his breath. Comprehension dawned on me. Harry had had a run in with an extremely opinionated eleven-year old when he was getting fitted for his school robes. Apparently the guy had just walked in our compartment. I stared at him openly and ruffled my hair. He was REALLY cute.

Shame about his body guards, though.

"So, is it true?" he said a little rudely. "They've been saying in the corridors that the Potters are in this compartment. So, is it you two?" His eyes looked at Harry, with a dawn of recognition and then locked in mine. How entrancing his silvery irises were…I felt dreamy just looking at them. I liked to leave my mark on good-looking boys, so I grinned hugely at him. He blinked once, with a flicker of amazement in his face (Alright!) then turned to my brother again.

"I'm Malfoy. Draco Malfoy," he drawled. I drooled at his voice. I was very lucky that he hadn't noticed. Ron laughed not-so-inconspicuously behind his hand. Draco looked at him.

"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are; my father says that all Weasley's have red hair, freckles and more children than they can afford. Not to mention," he sniffed. "Second-hand robes. Well, second-hand everything, actually."

If Ron annoyed Draco as much as he annoyed me, then that was saying something. Draco turned back to Harry.

"The people you're seen with can have a very big impact on your reputation, Potter. You don't want to be seen with riff-raff like the Weasleys." He shot Ron a contemptuous look. "You should get in with the right people. I can help you there." He held out a hand to Harry, who just stared at it.

"I think I can tell the right sort for myself, thanks," he said coldly. Just great. My brother was being a hero! Draco let his hand drop, but I lunged forward and grabbed it, shaking it firmly, and my other hand twirling in my hair.

"I don't care how wizards do things, but just because I'm a girl, doesn't mean I'm worthless!" I said. Draco looked at me curiously.

"You accept my friendship, then?" he asked with interest. And…longing? I nodded firmly.

"Hell yeah!"

He continued to look at me, then broke the eye contact and nodded. "That's great! Come on then, Shelby. We'd better get to our compartment."

I smiled and gathered my luggage, hauling it out into the corridor with me. We made our way to a large compartment full of talkative, smiling people, all of whom were dressed in their robes.

"Hey, everyone!" Draco called to the room at large. Everyone fell silent. And they stared at me.

Their eyes were glued to my scar.

"This is Shelby Potter," he said loudly. Then he pointed at two boys. "Shelby, that's Theo Nott and Blaise Zabini, that's Pansy Parkinson, Daphne Greengrass and Serena Dyob." Two dark haired girls smiled while a sandy-haired girl with narrow blue eyes and an apparent obsession with the colour purple (judging from her accessories) grinned and waved her whole hand in my face. I grinned back.

"And these two goons are Crabbe and Goyle," Draco finished, pointing at the two big dumb guys who had come in with us. There were heaps of other people here, but he didn't seem to think that any of them were of that much importance. He just sat down across from Pansy, Daphne, Serena, Blaise and Theo and patted the space next to him, indicating that I should take that place.

"So, Shelby," said Serena (the blond girl who grinned and waved at me). "You going to Slytherin?"

I looked at the crowd at large. "If that's where all of you are going, then absolutely!" I answered heartily. She winked at me and then turned and licked Theo, so quickly that I almost hadn't seen what had happened. Theo did, though, and he screamed and started wiping his cheek against Serena's sleeve. She smiled maniacally.

"It was worth it just to get you to do that, Theo," she said in a satisfied tone. Theo paused in wiping himself on her to raise his head, showing a plainly disgusted expression. Somehow, her grin got wider.

"It was a joke, Theo."

Everyone laughed.

"Yeah, that's you, good old Serena!" Draco remarked. Serena beamed at him and then looked at me.

"I've known Draco here since he was in nappies. I'm his cousin on his dad's side."

"Yeah, Aunty Felicia's little golden child."

"Mum was a Slytherin, and I look up to her a lot. My dad was a Gryffindor, though."

"Yeah, the family felt a bit weird about that, but it didn't really matter because he was a pureblood."

"Not that I really care about blood status."

"Don't you?" I asked her. She shook her head.

"When it all comes down to it, I just care about my own magic. As long as I know my stuff, I don't give a damn about who's pureblood and who's muggleborn and who's a blood traitor. I only care about me."

Draco snorted.

"Yeah right, you only care about you! I saw you crying because your mum landed herself in St Mungo's with a broken neck!"

"Yes, well," Serena sniffed. "My close family and friends are, of course, important to me as well. But that's it! And I don't care what blood status any of them are either!"

Draco rolled his eyes.

"Whatever."

"Besides," she continued, scratching her head. "I get diplomatic immunity to think whatever I want, thanks to Uncle Lucius. He let's me do as I please."

"Really?" I asked with interest. She nodded happily.

"Yep. I'm his favourite niece, you see."

I turned to Blaise.

"What are your parents like, then?"

He snorted.

"I only live with my mother. You see, she married my dad ages ago, and then he died, leaving her a mountain of gold. Or, at least, that's what she tells me. I have other suspicions… she has been married, to date, seven times, and each of her husbands have died mysteriously, leaving her even more gold. So, I'm sure you can imagine that we are ridiculously rich by now."

"Have you liked any of her husbands?" I asked. He shook his head.

"That was one of the conditions for marrying her. She wouldn't marry anyone that I liked. I'm sure you can see how traumatising it would end up being if I liked all of them and then all of them died. My mother has my 'best interests at heart' to use her phrase."

We reached the Hogsmeade train station in around two hours, during which time Serena had licked everyone except Draco and before I had gotten into my school robes.

"Come on, you need to get dressed before the train actually stops!" Draco urged.

I rolled my eyes, pulled my robes out of my bag, dragged my shirt over my head (enjoying his bug-eyed expression at the sight of my crop top) tugged the robes over my head, smoothed them down and pulled my pants out from underneath.

"Okay, I'm ready," I said, shoving my clothes into my bag. He nodded slowly.

"Let's go, before we're late to Sorting." The train had stopped by then and the rest of my new friends had already left the compartment.

We arrived outside just as the rest of the first-years were loading into four-person boats. Draco and I moved to where Serena and another boy were climbing into one of the boats. As we settled down, Serena introduced the other boy to me.

"This is Lucifer Yaxley. He was stuck in a compartment with some wanna-be Ravenclaws," she said. He waved and then went to staring out at the water.

We arrived at the castle, escorted by Hagrid, the gamekeeper and were left alone in the company of a formidable looking witch, who looked at us all rather sternly.

"Welcome to the Halls of Hogwarts," she said. "I am Professor McGonagall. You are about to be Sorted into your houses. These are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. During your time at Hogwarts, your House will be like your family. You will eat together, sleep together and do your lessons together.

"You will earn points for your House when you are good, which will go toward the House Cup which is awarded at the end of the year and you will have points taken away from your House when you misbehave. We hope you will find your time here very satisfactory and beneficial. Now, I suggest you tidy yourselves up before you are called into the Great Hall."

She went away and then returned again from the large wooden doors in front of us. We filed in after her, Draco and Serena beside me with our friends gathered around us, everyone looking around with interested expressions. There were five tables; the staff table, which sat on a raised platform and the four House tables, at which loud and raucous students were sitting, talking animatedly to each other. There was also a host of pearly white transparent ghosts who sat at regular intervals amongst the students.

McGonagall brought a small stool and a tattered, holey wizard's hat from under the staff table and set them on the floor, directly underneath the Headmaster's chair. I looked up at the Headmaster. His eyes were sparkling merrily, the tips of his long fingers touching under his chin.

Suddenly, the Hat's brim opened up and it burst into what seemed to be a very well-rehearsed song. I listened intently as it described the different characteristics of the different houses. When it had finished, everyone burst into applause and McGonagall got a large piece of rolled up paper and opened it.

"When I call your name," she said. "You will come and put the Hat on your head. Abbott, Hannah!"

A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moment's pause —

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.

The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. I saw a ghost waving merrily at her.

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.

"Boot, Terry!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.

"Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor, and the table on the far left exploded with cheers.

"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin.

"She was the girl who was sitting away from everyone on the train," Draco whispered into my ear. "I'd better be following her!"

"Dyob, Serena!"

Serena waltzed up to the stool, rammed on the Hat, crossed her legs, uncrossed them as it shouted "SLYTHERIN!" and then bounced over to the Slytherin table, embracing me before she went.

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Sometimes, I noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide. "Finnigan, Seamus," the sandy-haired boy next to Harry in the line, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.

"Granger, Hermione!"

Hermione, who was extremely plain looking with a mane of bushy brown hair, almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.

"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. Ron groaned audibly from Harry's other side. I heard him from the other end of the line. They must have met and hated each other.

The Daphne was made a Slytherin. Yay!

When Neville Longbottom was called, he fell over on his way to the stool.

The hat took a long time to decide with Neville.

When it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR," Neville ran off still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it to "MacDougal, Morag."

Draco swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"

He went to join Crabbe and Goyle, who had successfully found themselves there, looking pleased with himself.

There weren't many people left now. "Moon"…, Theo… Slytherin, Pansy… Slytherin, then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil"… , then "Perks, Sally-Anne"… , and then—

"Potter, Harry!"

As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.

"_Potter_, did she say?"

"_The _Harry Potter?"

"One of the twins?"

I rolled my eyes. Of course we were going to get attention!

Suddenly, the hall was full of people craning to get a good look at him. He put the Hat on. After a couple of seconds, I sort of blacked out and found myself in a quiet, dark place, where a small voice was talking. I was very surprised, and then I realised that I was inside my brother's mind, listening to his thoughts while my scar warmed and gently throbbed.

"Not Slytherin, eh?" said the voice of the Hat. "Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that — no? Well, if you're sure — better be GRYFFINDOR!"

I came to again and heard the hat shout the last word to the whole hall. Harry took off the hat and walked shakily toward the Gryffindor table. There, a pair of freckled, red-headed twins yelled, "We got a Potter! We got a Potter!"

And now there were only five people left to be sorted. Including me.

"Potter, Shelby!"

I took a deep breath and walked over to the Hat, sitting on the stool and placing it elegantly on my head. As the soft fabric descended over my head, a swift darkness swallowed my sight. And then there was another presence in my mind, the same one that was in Harry's. The Hat.

_Hmm, interesting, very interesting. I see no resistance in you to accept your own fate, which would make for an excellent Gryffindor, but you are more complex than that. You are clever, cunning, and you can…talk to serpents. Well, your brother could too, but he was definitely against Slytherin. You, however, are different. You are a SLYTHERIN!_

When everyone heard the Hat say it, there was a shocked silence. And then applause. From my new friends. From Pansy and Daphne, from Theo and Serena, From Blaise where he stood waiting in the line, from all the rest of the Slytherins…from one Draco Malfoy. I took the Hat off, ran a hand through my hair and waved at my new house, running over to them. When I got to them, they embraced me eagerly in their many arms.

The rest of the Hall was whispering about my new house, but I didn't pay attention.

"Thomas, Dean," a Black boy even taller than Ron, joined Harry at the Gryffindor table.

"Turpin, Lisa," became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. The hat had shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry clapped loudly with the rest as Ron collapsed into the chair next to him as Lucifer, the boy from the boat, was made a Slytherin. Blaise followed quickly. When he joined us, we all jumped on him, crushing him. Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away.

Then the Headmaster, Dumbledore, rose from his chair.

He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.

"Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!

"Thank you!"

He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. I didn't know whether to laugh or not.

The dishes in front of me were now piled with food. I had never seen so many things I liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and, for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs.

Serena looked at the peppermints, laughed and took a big handful of them, throwing them onto her plate and unwrapping and consuming them very quickly.

"I looove this type of dinner!" she moaned around a mouthful of peppermint. I rolled my eyes and wacked her on the head with my empty plate. She gulped the sweets down and then ducked behind Theo.

"Run for it!" she screamed in a very cute little voice. I reached behind Theo, my hands ready.

"Hey, Serena?" I started carefully. She looked me in the eye. "Yeah?"

"Well, you see, my godfather told me about this one spell before I came here. I think it was called…RICTUMSEMPRA!" I shouted, and tickled her sides. She screamed with adorable laughter.

The desserts appeared too, soon after that, and they were all delicious.

When, at last, the food disappeared, Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The hall fell silent.

"Ahem — just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you.

"First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."

Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the twins that had shouted when Harry was put into Gryffindor. Draco whispered to me that they were Weasleys, Ron's brothers in third year.

"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors.

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch.

"And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

Crabbe laughed, but he was one of the few who did.

"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. The other teachers' smiles had become rather fixed.

Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick, as if he was trying to get a fly off the end, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words.

"Everyone pick their favorite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!"

And the school bellowed:

"_Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts, _

_Teach us something please, _

_Whether we be old and bald _

_Or young with scabby knees, _

_Our heads could do with filling _

_With some interesting stuff, _

_For now they're bare and full of air, _

_Dead flies and bits of fluff, _

_So teach us things worth knowing, _

_Bring back what we've forgot, _

_just do your best, we'll do the rest, _

_And learn until our brains all rot." _

Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march. Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand and when they had finished, he was one of those who clapped loudest.

"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

And, just like that, we were all sent to bed. A Slytherin Prefect took us down to what appeared to be the dungeons, and from there, he took us to an eerie green chamber which appeared to be under the lake that we had to cross to get into school. He stopped us at a brick wall and said "astucia é a chave", opening another chamber. From there he sent us all to our dormitories and we found our bags, unpacked, got ready for bed and turned in.

**Hi! Hope you enjoyed the update! The character Serena was based on you, Searena! Yep, it's because you made me! Hope you liked the reference to our daily lives!**

**Eternal love to:**

**Searena, JustinneXD, Evelyn of the Witch Hunt, Cookiere4 for story alerting**

**Quinstar, JustinneXD, Searena for reviewing**

**sun-shine99, Searena, Quinstar, mlkduds009, Lacers, JustinneXD for favourite storying**

**JustinneXD, Searena for favourite authoring**

**JustinneXD, Searena for author alerting**

**Luv YA!**

**Can we try for 30 reviews? (yes I know I have reviewitis, Searena!)**


	3. Draco

-The Unsuspected Evil Butterfly-

Shelby Potter

Chapter Three- Draco

_Three-and-a-bit-years later…_

I rushed into the Hall too late. The Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students were already here, sitting amidst everyone else. Well, amidst the Ravenclaws and Slytherins, at any rate. I slipped over to where I usually sat and found my place beside Draco occupied by none other than Viktor Krum, the eighteen year old Bulgarian Seeker.

Any normal girl would have simply fainted on the floor to even look at this guy, who was pretty impressive in the hotness department, if not in the good-looking one. I mean, sure, his eyebrows and hooked nose were a little off-putting, but on the whole, he was pretty handsome.

I, however, am not normal. So I just froze in surprise for a second, ran a hand through my hair and then shoved in between him and Draco, into my spot. He looked at me in surprise and I smiled.

"This is MY spot," I said politely, but firmly. He stared at me for a moment and then nodded, turning to his plate. I felt Draco's eyes on my head, so I looked at him.

"Enjoying your little chat with the famous boy, Draco?" I asked mildly, putting an extra large steak that was dripping with fat on my plate. He smirked.

"I talk to famous people every day of my life, Shell. You know, like you. The famously strange one."

"Hey! I thought I was the famously strange one!" Serena said, wiping her mouth on her arm. Draco rolled his eyes.

"No, Serena. You are the famously annoying one."

She winked.

"Not to mention, your fiancée." She said fiancée in the fancy way. Draco blanched at the thought of the union his mother, father and aunt had planned. "Not if I can help it," he said.

Across the table from me, in the same spot that he had occupied since he was eleven, sat Blaise, who was now also my boyfriend. He had been chatting animatedly to one of the Durmstrang lot and so had only just noticed me. Now he looked at me eagerly, smiling in an open, friendly way. I returned his smile.

"Hey, Shelby! I missed you!" he said energetically. He leaned across the table and we kissed briefly, which was not something we did often. We usually drew it out a bit, snogging before breaking apart.

Draco watched us with a carefully guarded expression (for some reason, he wasn't very comfortable with our relationship, but then, he had never been comfortable with any of my relationships) and chewed his roast salmon with a little more force than necessary. To distract myself from him, I turned to Serena.

"You know what Miriam told Neville and I when we were visiting Alice?" I began. Serena shook her head as she sucked gravy off her spoon. "Well, she had done some research back in her third year at Hogwarts for History of Magic on the Triwizard Tournament, and we get to have this traditional ball on Christmas Eve! It's exactly like a muggle formal, with dates and pretty dress robes and dancing!"

"Really? That sounds like fun! I wonder who I would take with me…" Serena said, now wiping the spoon on her napkin. "You'd be going with Blaise, wouldn't you?"

"Nuh duh! He IS my boyfriend!"

"Hmmm…so that means I have to take Theo, because he's my _official _love interest."

"Are you two even 'dating' Serena?"

"Umm…no?"

"Why did you say 'no' as a question?"

"RUN FOR IT!" she replied, and licked me on the cheek. Then she ducked behind Lucifer, who was sitting beside her. This was the million billionth time that she had done this to me over the years, so I just rolled my eyes and 'tergeoed' her spit off my face. She frowned at my lack of reaction, but what could I say? She'd been doing it for four freaking years! It had to get old sometime…

"What the hell is this, Draco?" I asked, pointing to a dish of…odd food.

"Traditional Bulgarian cuisine," he replied off-handily. I noticed that he wasn't looking in my direction, like he was afraid to meet my eyes. I frowned and continued trying to make small talk.

"So, say that there was a ball this year…" I began.

"You mean a ball called the Yule Ball which we will be having at Christmas which you and Serena were just going on about at the top of your lungs? I don't know who I'm going with."

DAMN IT! He can read my freaking mind! Which reminds me…

The sudden darkness. And then, Harry's diary-of-a-hormonal-teenage-girl-like mind opens up to me. And waiting, waiting…I can now see what he sees, can now hear what he thinks, what he says and what he hears. And…cue colour.

Harry is staring directly at Ginny bloody Weasley. Also known as the apparently hottest girl in the third year. And Ron's sister.

Ron is waving his hand in front of Harry's face.

"Harry? Harry. Harry!" he says.

Harry blinks and his eyes go briefly unfocused, but then he concentrates on Ron.

Annoying freaking Weasley. I wanted to hear his thoughts on Ginny! Oh, wait…here they come now.

_Ginny….GINNNNNYYYYY…soooo hoooooootttttttttttt…me waaaannnnnnnnttttt…neeeeeeeeeeedddddddddddd…_

My brother is very predictable.

"Yeah Ron?" he says. Wow. I don't think I could talk to the sibling of my love interest so calmly after thinking those thoughts about them!

"Dude. I've noticed that you reaaaaaalllllllyyyyyyyyy like Ginny."

Harry's eyes slid slightly back over to the good-looking girl's…well, I'm sure you can imagine.

"Yeah. Umm…Mayyyybeeee."

"Well, I was wondering if we could do a little deal."

Now Ron's eyes slipped towards his right. I had a faint idea of what was in this direction.

Harry's thoughts on this comment: _Anything for Ginny!_

Harry's spoken reply: "Umm…Mayyyyyyybbeeeeeeeeee."

"Okay then. Here's what will happen. YOU can snog, date and shag Ginny if, and only if, I get to look at, snog and date YOUR sister."

WHAT! IF HE MAKES THIS DEAL I AM GOING TO UNLEASH MY GUY FRIENDS ON HIM! And then I'll burn him alive. Much more torturous than anything that Voldy has ever come up with.

_I like this deal._

NO EFFING WAY!

"Hey, um, I don't really know if I'm the one who should be making this deal… Shelby would murder me."

_As if I care. I'm just…increasing the tension._

And I'M plotting his death!

"Remember- You get to shag Ginny whenever the hell you want!"

_DONE!_

DONE! His death is sealed!

"Done," he says in a business-like voice. I'm gonna kill him. And Ron is definitely looking here. He looks slightly seasick, but in a happy way.

"Hey, Ron?"

"Yeah, buddy?"

"Good luck getting past Malfoy…"

Ron rubs his hands together.

"I have a little something up my sleeve…"

Hmm. He means he's got his piddle stick up his sleeve. Because I'm gonna chop it off and put it there.

I returned to my own consciousness and screamed "HARRY!"

Draco finally turned to look at me. "What has your dumbass brother done now?"

"He just sold me off to Weasley!" I shouted. "For another Weasley!"

And, that was the thing that finally made Draco act the way he should. Meaning he got up from the table, motioned to Blaise, Theo, Lucifer, Crabbe and Goyle to join him and then marched straight up to Harry and Weasel-toes. Well…

"THIS IS GONNA BE FUN!" shouted Serena.

And she bounded down the hall to find good seats, pausing to grab a giant bowl of extra-butter-flavoured popcorn from the Hufflepuff table. She squeezed her butt between Brown (grrr) and Thomas (meh) and sat, crunching away happily, watching Draco and the guys advance on my brother and his best mate.

The rest of the night was very interesting indeed. Draco had cursed Harry swiftly and then absolutely ROARED at Ron to keep his bloody hands away from me and then told both of them that they had absolutely no honour to be giving away the privileges of snogging and shagging each other's sisters. He very nicely avoided talking about my little secret connection to Harry, which I had only spoken about to Draco and Serena, by saying that he had overheard them easily.

He then insulted both of their honour and left abruptly, all his Slytherin pals following. Serena floated along with them, still clutching her popcorn, managing to look both disappointed and excited at the same time.

Serena was right. It was heaps of fun to watch.

**Okay. This was just a small place-holding chapter in which the Fanfiction becomes a story. Basically, Shelby and her friends are in their fourth year and she and Harry have a small House-based rivalry. Also, she's best friends with his worst enemy. The Triwizard tournament is happening, and there will be some stuff with Viktor. I like to write about funny stuff, so sorry if the story has become something other than what you thought originally.**

**Just to clear a couple of things up, Draco and Serena's parents are trying to plan a traditional pureblood wedding between the pair, and Serena, who doesn't actually want it to happen, enjoys teasing Draco about it. He doesn't want it to happen either. And Tergeo is a spell for cleaning.**

**THX**

**Eternal love to:**

**adragonspixie88 for story alerting**

**JustinneXD, adragonspixie88, Searena, sun-shine99 for reviewing.**

**Charlotte MaryWeather and adragonspixie88 for favourite storying.**

**LUVYA!**

**I have also edited slight problems in previous chapters. Just in case you cared.**


	4. Names

-The Unsuspected Evil Butterfly-

-Shelby Potter-

Chapter Four- Names

"_Master, I am of the opinion that it is not Harry Potter that you will want to come to you, but both him and his sister."_

"_How so?"_

"_The prophecy tells of only one twin being your bane, not both. But it never mentions which twin it is…"_

"…_And you think that it might be the girl?"_

"_Not necessarily, but she might be. Have both there so that you can be the judge of which one you have to kill. But, besides the obvious possibility of her being the one, there is also a possibility that she would join you."_

"_What makes you think that?"_

"_She is a Slytherin, my Lord. She appears to have no major loyalty at the moment, but I have witnessed that she can be unwaveringly loyal to those that she _is _loyal to. Also, she has skills the likes of which I have never seen before in a child her age. She has perfect scores in all her classes, aside from the odd slip-up or pathetic mistake, and even those are few and varied. She would be a valuable asset to our Order and our cause._

"_But who's name to put in the Goblet, my friend?"_

"_Hers. She has proven to me that she is the stronger of the two. And if she can get to the end, it will be more proof of her aptitude."_

"_Yes, yes. But you should put both names in the cup and give the other a Portkey of their own, which will transport them to the place as their twin is transported."_

"_That is most wise, Master, and it shall be done."_

"_Go then, and make your preparations…"_

I woke up, gasping for air. Serena got out of her bed and walked to mine.

"What's up?" she asked. "You've been sitting there murmuring. I haven't been able to sleep!"

I sat up.

"It was just a bad dream…" I said, feeling sleepy again. "Just a bad dream…" And I slumped back down and went back to sleep, forgetting when I woke up again what I had dreamed about at all.

The following day, in my last class, I lounged back in my chair while Professor Snape described the lesson's activity.

"It is of the utmost importance that you allow the antidote to stew before adding the rat spleens…"

Of course, I had unravelled all the secrets of potions. I understood it all. I helped Draco out a fair bit, not because he wasn't already good at potions, but because he wasn't as good as me. Neither was Serena. Or Blaise. Or Theo. Or Daphne. Or Lucifer. Or Pansy. Oh, _definitely _not Pansy!

I snuck a glance at Harry. He was sitting there, with Granger and Weasley, looking utterly bored out of his mind. Of course, potions were a definite short-coming of his. He generally sucked in comparison to me in all of his subjects. I was rather smug about it.

I then looked at my mortal enemy, Lavender Brown. As always, she was staring up at the ceiling with her mouth wide open, looking like a complete moron.

"You may begin," Snape said.

I flew into action immediately, shredding quickly through the instructions on the blackboard, making a couple of changes to them. I was the only one in the class who was brave enough to do this. That was why I was the only one in the class who repeatedly received perfect marks for all her potions work.

I was already halfway done when Draco turned to me.

"Why isn't it thickening?" he asked me. I smirked, because I had already gotten past that stage. I took a pinch of powdered lion-fish spine from his kit and threw it into his potion. As I stirred, the lime-coloured concoction thickened to the same texture as custard.

"Whatever will you do," I said, passing him his stirring rod. "Whatever will you do when we have to make the antidotes _without_ instructions on the board and with nothing to go off except the laws of potions?"

He shrugged.

At the end of the lesson (which was shorter than usual, due to the names of the Triwizard Champions being announced today), I walked over to Professor Snape's desk. He was by far my favourite teacher, aside from Professor McGonagall, in who's class I was perfectly brilliant (she told me a couple of times that my father had been most adept at Transfiguration as well, although I knew that because Sirius had told me and Harry about the Marauders being animagi) and I could tell that I was one of his favourite students.

"That was an excellent lesson today, Professor," I said.

He nodded at me.

"And you, Miss Potter, performed extremely well as always," he replied.

"Why, thank you, Professor!"

"Now, you'd better get going to the Hall with everyone else; the Goblet of Fire is nearly ready to inform us about the Champions, as I understand."

"I'll do that, Professor."

I left the classroom with Serena and Draco, who, as always, decided to wait for me.

"So, who d'ya reckon'll get Hogwarts champion?" Serena asked. I thought about it.

"I'd say it's a real toss-up between Diggory and Johnson. She definitely looks a bit more quick-witted than Diggory, but he has a lot of know-how, even if he doesn't always use it. I can't really say who will get it out of them, though."

"True, true. I reckon it'll be Diggory, though," she replied.

"Hmm…that wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that he's so bloody fit, would it?" Draco inquired **(A/N: for anyone who doesn't know, fit is the British version of hot and sexy)**

"No…um…RUN FOR IT!"

The spit on Draco's cheek made him roll his eyes.

"Seriously Serena," he said, grabbing her sleeve and wiping his face clean. "You really should get some new annoying habit."

"Never!" she answered. "'RUN FOR IT' will never get old!"

I rolled my eyes.

"Why don't you ask everyone you've ever licked about that before you assume it hasn't gotten old?"

She poked her tongue out at me. I scoffed.

"THAT isn't a tongue! THIS is a tongue!"

I poked mine out and flicked it up to touch the tip of my nose. Then I stretched it right down to the bottom of my chin.

"Ugh! It looks like a slug!" she said. "Put it away!"

In the Hall, everyone sat with bated breath, barely touching the exquisite feast that lay before us all. The fire in the Goblet had flared red suddenly and a piece of parchment shot out of it. Dumbledore put out a hand and caught it, looking over at the Beauxbatons lot. All of them were gazing up at him hopefully.

A girl who looked much like the Veela that had been the mascots for Bulgaria at the Quidditch Final that Sirius had taken Harry and I to watch (we were in the top box with the Weasleys and Draco's family, thanks to a deal that Mr Weasley got for Sirius at the Ministry) seemed to be on the edge of her seat, her beautiful face twisted with anticipation.

"The Beauxbatons champion is Benjamin Lecroix!" Dumbledore announced as the fire turned blue again. **(A/N: I had serious problems with Fleur Delacour as Beauxbatons Champion, I liked her in every other way, but she sucked as Beauxbatons champion)**

All the girls in the Hall (even including me) turned to face the glorious male who was now getting to his feet with open mouths and totally unconcealed stares.

He was tall, well filled-out, with white-blonde hair and piercing handsome grey eyes. His face had an exotic, manly beauty to it. His skin was white as white could be on skin. He was, without a doubt, the best-looking boy any of us had ever seen in our lives.

His friends were applauding him happily while the girls all sat sobbing and complaining about not being chosen. He heartily strode to Dumbledore, shook his hand and all but jumped through the door that Dumbledore had indicated earlier.

Every girl from Hogwarts and Durmstrang was applauding hard and loud. My palms were getting red and they stung, but I kept on clapping until the fire turned red again.

"The Durmstrang champion is Viktor Krum!"

Once again, most of the girls were clapping loudly. Actually, all of them were clapping this time, even most of the boys. Not because he was so amazingly good-looking, but because his Quidditch skill had earned him major respect with the boys as well as the girls.

The fire was red one more time. All the Hogwartians were holding their breath. As Dumbledore caught the champion's name and rose it to his eyes, we all leaned in his general direction.

"And the Hogwarts champion," he said slowly. "Is Cedric Diggory!"

The Hufflepuff table _exploded _with cheers. Over at Harry's table, Ron appeared to be scowling and Angelina Johnson was looking a little disappointed. Nevertheless, almost everyone was applauding him, because he was also stunningly good-looking.

"Wow," Serena remarked. "All the champions are soooo bloody fit!"

Draco and I exchanged a look over her head.

"Excellent!" Dumbledore was saying happily as the Hufflepuffs finally made themselves quiet. "Well, we now have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champion every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real-"

But he suddenly stopped dead.

Because the Fire in the Goblet was red once again. A piece of parchment flew out of it. Dumbledore stretched out a long arm to take it from the air and brought it to his eyes.

There was a long pause as Dumbledore stared blankly at the parchment and everyone in the Hall stared disbelievingly at Dumbledore. Finally, he cleared his throat and took the parchment away from his face, looking around at the hall.

And then he read the name out.

"_Shelby Potter_."

Shocked silence.

That was a surprise.

I sat there, aware that every head in the Great Hall had turned to look at me. I was stunned. I was surely dreaming. I had not heard correctly. I WAS THINKING LIKE HARRY!

There was no applause. A buzzing, as though of angry bees, was starting to fill the Hall; some students were standing up to get a better look at me as I sat, frozen, in my seat. Up at the top table, Professor McGonagall had got to her feet and swept past Ludo Bagman and Professor Karkaroff to whisper urgently to Professor Dumbledore, who bent his ear toward her, frowning slightly. I turned to Draco, Blaise and Serena; beyond them, he saw the long Slytherin table all watching me, open-mouthed.

"I didn't put my name in," I said blankly. "You know I never really cared about it."

Blaise and Serena stared just as blankly back. Draco looked concerned.

At the top table, Professor Dumbledore had straightened up, nodding to Professor McGonagall.

"Shelby Potter!" he called again. "Shelby! Up here, if you please!"

"Go on," Serena whispered, giving me a slight push. A small, mischievous smile was starting to spread on her face and the Slytherins were all unfreezing in much the same way themselves.

I got to my feet and set off up the gap between the Slytherin and Ravenclaw tables. As I started walking, the mixed blessing of the situation dawned on me and I unconsciously began to bounce on my feet.

When I arrived in front of Dumbledore everyone was still staring at me.

"Well… through the door, Shelby," said Dumbledore. He wasn't smiling. Well, that was fair, he was sure to be disappointed for some reason. I moved off along the teachers' table. Hagrid was seated right at the end.

He did not wink at me, or wave, or give any of his usual signs of greeting. He looked completely astonished and stared at me as I passed like everyone else. I however, still gave him a reassuring smile.

I went through the door out of the Great Hall and found myself in a smaller room, lined with paintings of witches and wizards. A handsome fire was roaring in the fireplace opposite me. The faces in the portraits turned to look at me as I entered. I saw a wizened witch flit out of the frame of her picture and into the one next to it, which contained a wizard with a walrus moustache. The wizened witch started whispering in his ear.

Viktor Krum, Cedric Diggory, and Benjamin Lecroix were grouped around the fire. They looked strangely impressive, silhouetted against the flames. Krum, hunched up and brooding, was leaning against the mantelpiece, slightly apart from the other two. Cedric was standing with his hands behind his back, staring into the fire. Benjamin looked around when I walked in and smiled at me softly.

"What is it?" he said. "Do zey want us back in ze Hall?"

He thought I had come to deliver a message. I could forgive his mistake in mistaking me for such lowness because he was so damn fit. And I didn't know how to explain what had just happened. I just stood there, looking at the three champions. It struck me how very tall and fit all of them were.

There was a sound of scurrying feet behind me, and Ludo Bagman entered the room. He took me by the arm and led me forward.

"Extraordinary!" he muttered, squeezing my arm.

"Absolutely extraordinary! Gentlemen," he added, approaching the fireside and addressing the other three. "May I introduce - incredible though it may seem - the fourth Triwizard champion?"

Viktor Krum straightened up. His surly face darkened as he surveyed me. I was nearly overcome by the urge to poke my tongue out at him, but decided against it. Cedric looked nonplussed. He looked from Bagman to me and back again as though sure he must have misheard what Bagman had said. Benjamin Lecroix, however, tossed back his head, smiling, and said, "Oh, vairy funny joke, Meester Bagman."

"Joke?" Bagman repeated, bewildered. "No, no, not at all! Shelby's name just came out of the Goblet of Fire!"

Krum's thick eyebrows contracted slightly. Cedric was still looking politely bewildered. Benjamin frowned. I reminded myself that I overlooking everything offensive that he did because he was so beautiful.

"But evidently zair 'as been a mistake," he said contemptuously to Bagman. "She cannot compete. She is too young." Too beautiful to reprimand, I reminded myself.

"Well… it is amazing," said Bagman, rubbing his smooth chin and smiling down at me. "But, as you know, the age restriction was only imposed this year as an extra safety measure. And as her name's come out of the goblet… I mean, I don't think there can be any ducking out at this stage… It's down in the rules, you're obliged… Shelby will just have to do the best she —"

The door behind them opened again, and a large group of people came in: Professor Dumbledore, followed closely by Mr. Crouch, Professor Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Snape. Harry heard the buzzing of the hundreds of students on the other side of the wall, before Professor McGonagall closed the door.

"Madame Maxime!" said Benjamin at once, striding over to his headmistress. "Zey are saying zat zis little girl is to compete also!"

Alright. That was the last straw. Little girl?

"You just watch who you're calling little, you French Nancy-boy," I hissed. "Found yourself engaged in a deadly tussle for yours and your brother's lives lately? Survived any Unforgivable Curses lately? Had your whole life ripped away from you before you even got to appreciate it before? If so, then join the club!"

Benjamin looked seriously affronted, as did Madame Maxime, who had drawn herself up to her full, and considerable, height. The top of her handsome head brushed the candle-filled chandelier, and her gigantic black-satin bosom swelled.

"What is ze meaning of zis, Dumbly-dorr?" she said imperiously, obviously trying to contain herself and ignore my hit at her student.

"I'd rather like to know that myself, Dumbledore," said Professor Karkaroff. He was wearing a steely smile, and his blue eyes were like chips of ice. "Two Hogwarts champions? I don't remember anyone telling me the host school is allowed two champions – or have I not read the rules carefully enough?"

He gave a short and nasty laugh.

"C'est impossible," said Madame Maxime, whose enormous hand with its many superb opals was resting upon Benjamin's shoulder. "Ogwarts cannot 'ave two champions. It is most injust."

"We were under the impression that your Age Line would keep out younger contestants, Dumbledore," said Karkaroff, his steely smile still in place, though his eyes were colder than ever. "Otherwise, we would, of course, have brought along a wider selection of candidates from our own schools."

"Still your tongue, Karkaroff," said Snape softly. "It isn't possible that Dumbledore is at fault. If anyone is, as much as I hate to admit it, but if anyone is it is Miss Potter."

His black eyes were alight with disappointment. "Don't go blaming Dumbledore for anyone's determination to break rules."

"Thank you, Severus," said Dumbledore quietly, and Snape went quiet, though his eyes still glinted malevolently through his curtain of greasy black hair.

Professor Dumbledore was now looking down at me, and I looked right back at him, trying to discern the expression of the eyes behind the half-moon spectacles.

"Did you put your name into the Goblet of Fire, Shelby?" he asked calmly.

"No," I said. "Trust me, people would know if I had." I was very aware of everybody watching him closely. Snape made a soft noise of impatient disbelief in the shadows.

"Miss Potter, I am sure you are very capable of secrecy," he said, seemingly to no one.

"Did you ask an older student to put it into the Goblet of Fire for you?" said Professor Dumbledore, ignoring Snape.

"No," I said vehemently.

"Ah, but of course she is lying!" cried Madame Maxime. Snape was now shaking his head, his lip curling.

"She can't lie all that well, dear Madame. I assure you that if she can stick to the story two times in a row, then she is telling the truth," he put in.

"Yes, thankyou for your highly valued input, Severus," McGonagall said impatiently. "But the point is that she could not have crossed the Age Line. I am sure we are all agreed on that -"

"Dumbly-dorr must 'ave made a mistake wiz ze line," said Madame Maxime, shrugging.

"It is possible, of course," said Dumbledore politely.

"Dumbledore, you know perfectly well you did not make a mistake!" said Professor McGonagall angrily. "Really, what nonsense! Shelby could not have crossed the line herself, and as Professor Dumbledore believes that she did not persuade an older student to do it for her, I'm sure that should be good enough for everybody else!"

"Mr. Crouch… Mr. Bagman," said Karkaroff, his voice unctuous once more, "you are our - er - objective judges. Surely you will agree that this is most irregular?"

Bagman wiped his round, boyish face with his handkerchief and looked at Mr. Crouch, who was standing outside the circle of the firelight, his face half hidden in shadow. He looked slightly eerie, the half darkness making him look much older, giving him an almost skull-like appearance. When he spoke, however, it was in his usual curt voice.

"We must follow the rules, and the rules state clearly that those people whose names come out of the Goblet of Fire are bound to compete in the tournament."

"Well, Barty knows the rule book back to front," said Bagman, beaming and turning back to Karkaroff and Madame Maxime, as though the matter was now closed.

"I insist upon resubmitting the names of the rest of my students," said Karkaroff. He had dropped his unctuous tone and his smile now. His face wore a very ugly look indeed. "You will set up the Goblet of Fire once more, and we will continue adding names until each school has two champions. It's only fair, Dumbledore."

"But Karkaroff, it doesn't work like that," said Bagman. "The Goblet of Fire's just gone out - it won't reignite until the start of the next tournament -"

"- in which Durmstrang will most certainly not be competing!" exploded Karkaroff. "After all our meetings and negotiations and compromises, I little expected something of this nature to occur! I have half a mind to leave now!"

"Empty threat, Karkaroff," growled a voice from near the door. "You can't leave your champion now. He's got to compete. They've all got to compete. Binding magical contract, like Dumbledore said. Convenient, eh?"

Moody had just entered the room. He limped toward the fire, and with every right step he took, there was a loud clunk.

"Convenient?" said Karkaroff. "I'm afraid I don't understand you, Moody." I could tell he was trying to sound disdainful, as though what Moody was saying was barely worth his notice, but his hands gave him away; they had balled themselves into fists.

"Don't you?" said Moody quietly. "It's very simple, Karkaroff. Someone put Miss Potter's name in that goblet knowing she'd have to compete if it came out."

"Evidently, someone 'oo wished to give 'Ogwarts two bites at ze apple!" said Madame Maxime.

"I quite agree, Madame Maxime," said Karkaroff, bowing to her. "I shall be lodging complaints with the Ministry of Magic _and _the International Confederation of Wizards -"

"If anyone's got reason to complain, it's Miss Potter," growled Moody, "but… funny thing… I don't hear_ her_ saying a word…"

"Why should I complain?" I asked curiously.

" Yes, why should she complain?" burst out Benjamin Lecroix. "She 'as ze chance to compete, 'asn't she? We 'ave all been 'oping to be chosen for weeks and weeks! Ze honour for our schools! A thousand Galleons in prize money!"

"You know, I'm starting to think that you're only good for annoying everyone, pretty boy…" I said.

He huffed and continued. "Zis is a chance many would die for!"

"Maybe someone's hoping Miss Potter _is_ going to die for it," said Moody, with the merest trace of a growl.

An extremely tense silence followed these words. Ludo Bagman, who was looking very anxious indeed, bounced nervously up and down on his feet and said, "Moody, old man… what a thing to say!"

"We all know Professor Moody considers the morning wasted if he hasn't discovered six plots to murder him before lunchtime," said Karkaroff loudly. "Apparently he is now teaching his students to fear assassination too. An odd quality in a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Dumbledore, but no doubt you had your reasons.

"Imagining things, am I?" growled Moody. "Seeing things, eh? It was a skilled witch or wizard who put the girl's name in that goblet…"

"Ah, what evidence is zere of zat?" said Madame Maxime, throwing up her huge hands.

"Because they hoodwinked a very powerful magical object!" said Moody. "It would have needed an exceptionally strong Confundus Charm to bamboozle that goblet into forgetting that only three schools compete in the tournament… I'm guessing they submitted Miss Potter's name under a fourth school, to make sure she was the only one in her category…"

"You seem to have given this a great deal of thought, Moody," said Karkaroff coldly, "and a very ingenious theory it is - though of course, I heard you recently got it into your head that one of your birthday presents contained a cunningly disguised basilisk egg, and smashed it to pieces before realizing it was a carriage clock. So you'll understand if we don't take you entirely seriously…"

"There are those who'll turn innocent occasions to their advantage," Moody retorted in a menacing voice. "It's my job to think the way Dark wizards do, Karkaroff - as you ought to remember…"

"Alastor!" said Dumbledore warningly. I wondered for a moment whom he was speaking to, but then realized "Mad-Eye" could hardly be Moody's real first name. Moody fell silent, though still surveying Karkaroff with satisfaction - Karkaroff's face was burning.

I looked up at Moody.

"You seriously think that someone wants me dead?" I asked. Moody nodded.

"It's all in your history." He said. "YOU know that there IS a very dangerous Dark Wizard who wants you or your brother or both of you dead. Apparently he has decided that you're the bigger threat." He looked back at Dumbledore, who nodded.

"How this situation arose, we do not know," said Dumbledore, speaking to everyone gathered in the room. "It seems to me, however, that we have no choice but to accept it. Both Cedric and Shelby have been chosen to compete in the Tournament. This, therefore, they will do…

"Ah, but Dumbly-dorr -"

"My dear Madame Maxime, if you have an alternative, I would be delighted to hear it."

Dumbledore waited, but Madame Maxime did not speak, she merely glared. She wasn't the only one either. Snape and McGonagall looked furious (although, given their extremely kind nature towards me, I assumed that this was out of concern for my life); Karkaroff livid; Bagman, however, looked rather excited.

"Well, shall we crack on, then?" he said, rubbing his hands together and smiling around the room. "Got to give our champions their instructions, haven't we? Barty, want to do the honours?"

Mr. Crouch seemed to come out of a deep reverie.

"Yes," he said, "instructions. Yes… the first task…"

He moved forward into the firelight. Close up, he looked ill. There were dark shadows beneath his eyes and a thin, papery look about his wrinkled skin that had not been there at the Quidditch World Cup.

"The first task is designed to test your daring," he told me, Cedric, Benjamin, and Viktor, "so we are not going to be telling you what it is. Courage in the face of the unknown is an important quality in a wizard… very important.

"The first task will take place on November the twenty-fourth, in front of the other students and the panel of judges.

"The champions are not permitted to ask for or accept help of any kind from their teachers to complete the tasks in the tournament.

The champions will face the first challenge armed only with their wands. They will receive information about the second task when the first is over. Owing to the demanding and time-consuming nature of the tournament, the champions are exempted from end-of-year tests."

Mr. Crouch turned to look at Dumbledore.

"I think that's all, is it, Albus?"

"I think so," said Dumbledore, who was looking at Mr. Crouch with mild concern. "Are you sure you wouldn't like to stay at Hogwarts tonight, Barty?"

"No, Dumbledore, I must get back to the Ministry," said Mr. Crouch. "It is a very busy, very difficult time at the moment… I've left young Weatherby in charge… Very enthusiastic… a little overenthusiastic, if truth be told…"

I snorted. Apparently Percy Weasley was not doing as well in the Ministry as he thought…_Weatherby_. What a joke.

"You'll come and have a drink before you go, at least?" said Dumbledore.

"Come on, Barty, I'm staying!" said Bagman brightly. "It's all happening at Hogwarts now, you know, much more exciting here than at the office!"

"I think not, Ludo," said Crouch with a touch of his old impatience.

"Professor Karkaroff - Madame Maxime - a nightcap?" said Dumbledore.

But Madame Maxime had already put her arm around Benjamin's shoulders and was leading him swiftly out of the room. I could hear them both talking very fast in French as they went off into the Great Hall. Karkaroff beckoned to Krum, and they, too, exited, though in silence.

"Shelby, Cedric, I suggest you go up to bed," said Dumbledore, smiling at both of them. "I am sure Slytherin and Hufflepuff are waiting to celebrate with you, and it would be a shame to deprive them of this excellent excuse to make a great deal of mess and noise."

I glanced at Cedric, who nodded, and we left together.

The Great Hall was deserted now; the candles had burned low, giving the jagged smiles of the pumpkins an eerie, flickering quality.

"So," said Cedric, with a slight smile. "We're playing against each other again!"

"I s'pose," I said brightly, remembering the past three years, each of which I spent on the Slytherin Quidditch team as their Seeker.

_Flashback_

"_DRACO MALFOY, GIVE NEVILLE HIS REMEMBRALL NOW! AND YOU CAN GIVE HARRY HIS BAG, IF YOU PLEASE!" I screamed at my best friend who was hovering in the air on a broomstick, holding a remembrall and a schoolbag in each of his hands and who was in one of his uncontrollable moods at our first ever flying lesson, which we had with Gryffindor. I got onto my broom._

"_No Shelby," he replied, grinning. "Harry has to make me…"_

_Me and Harry kicked off from the ground at the exact same time, chasing Draco into the air._

"_Give it up, Malfoy," Harry jeered. "Your bodyguards can't protect you here!"_

_He paled, apparently realising that._

"_Well, then. Catch, Potter!"_

_He threw the bag and the Remembrall into the air, in opposite directions. Harry dived for his schoolbag and I dived for the Remembrall. I caught it and pulled out of the dive just before I hit the ground. I looked over my shoulder and saw that Harry had done so too._

"_YOU TWO POTTERS!" screamed a familiar and yet unwelcome voice. I paled. McGonagall…_

"_Never, in all my years at Hogwarts!" she was saying, rather breathlessly. "Come with me!"_

_She took me and Harry away with her, first to Flitwick's fifth year Charms class, where she established Harry as Gryffindor's new seeker and then to Professor Snape's office, where she explained to him that I should be allowed to try out for Seeker on Slytherin's Quidditch team. I did try out a week later and I got the place. And I had held it for three years._

_End of Flashback_

"So… tell me…" said Cedric as we reached the entrance hall, which was now lit only by torches in the absence of the Goblet of Fire. "How did you get your name in?"

"I didn't," I said, staring up at his bloody-fitness. "I didn't put it in. I was telling the truth. Seriously, I kind of thought it was beneath me before tonight."

"Ah… okay," said Cedric. He didn't believe me. "Well… see you, then."

"Cedric, wait!" I called as he began to retreat. He turned his eyes back on me. "Look, I know we haven't been exactly the best of friends, but I need you to realise that I wasn't lying. If you don't believe me, then I highly doubt that many other people will."

He looked me seriously in the eye, reading my expression. Finally, he nodded.

"I believe you," he said solemnly. I smiled at him.

"Thankyou."

And he smiled back, reaching out a hand to ruffle my very short hair.

"You'll do just fine, kid," he told me, before turning to walk back to his common room.

I shook my hair out, running a hand through it and then made for the Slytherin common room. At the wall blocking the Entrance I muttered the password. "Salazar."

The passageway opened and I was suddenly faced by a horde of extremely delighted Slytherins.

"Oh my, gosh, Shelby! I know you didn't put your name in, but WOW!" Serena gushed.

Blaise came up to me. "I know! Wow!"

We hugged and had a brief kiss.

Draco came up to me next.

"You really didn't put your name in that Goblet?" he asked me. I shook my head.

"Good, because you'd be stark-raving mad to! I mean, sure, it's cool and fun and exciting, but it's too dangerous!"

"You didn't seem to think so when you were telling everyone that you would have entered!" I teased him.

He blushed.

"Yeah, well, that was then, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, yeah. But listen to Moody's theory!"

"I don't want to listen to any theory that the guy who turned my fiancée into a ferret made up!" Serena cried. Draco edged away from her.

"No, seriously Serena!"

"Okay, okay, I'm listening!"

"Well, Moody thinks that someone put my name in that Goblet because they want me killed."

There was a silence between we four. Then Blaise spoke up.

"Kill…you? Why would ANYONE want to kill you?"

"Well, I expect it would have something to do with Voldemort," Serena said impatiently. "And GET A GRIP you two!" Draco and Blaise usually preferred to call Voldemort 'The Dark Lord' and so were wincing.

"But, you see, the thing is that I don't think my name was put in that cup so that I would die," I continued. Everyone gaped at me.

"Look, I know that Serena said she doesn't care to listen to Moody," Blaise said, shooting her a glare for making such a distasteful joke. "But she was joking. If Moody says that someone's trying to kill you…"

"But I KNOW that no one is trying to kill me…yet," I protested. "I don't know why, it- it's like…like something I overheard, something I saw. Something," I paused dramatically, wondering where I was getting all this from. "Something…something to do with Harry."

"You mean your…link?" Serena asked, shooting Blaise a sideways look. He didn't _exactly_ understand my mind-link with Harry. The same way that Harry was oblivious to it.

"Yeah…yeah, I think so."

"Well, what makes you think that in the first place?" Draco demanded.

I stared blankly at him and Serena and Blaise, all of whom stared back at me, all of whom seemed un-joking for once. "I-I…I don't know…"

Suddenly, the rest of the Slytherin's rounded the four of us up.

"Yo, come on!" Pansy was saying. She was grabbing at Draco's arm, tugging him up. "We Slytherins rarely get an opportunity to have a good party! Let's make the most of it, eh?"

"Yeah, come on!" Daphne backed her up, her younger sister, Astoria, at her elbow.

"Ohh, Shelby! You HAVE to come and party!" Astoria whined.

Railley Nott, Theo's older sister, shimmied up to us as well.

"Shelby, if you don't get down there now, I will get into your room, steal your diary and bring it down here so I can read it to everyone."

That was a sufficient enough threat to make me forget all about my problems for a second and go celebrate that I had been chosen as a champion (even if I was meant to be killed through it) with the rest of my house.

"Well, if someone wants to kill me," I whispered as I was whisked away by my lesser friends. "Then I might as well reap the benefits before I go. But, for what it's worth, I'll give them a job of forcing me to the end…"

And I partied into the night.

**Eternal Love to:**

**Givetherabbitthefreakintrix, CEWatkins for story alerting**

**ada-cullen, givetherabbitthefreakintrix, adragonspixie88, Searena for reviewing**

**TuTs, little miss S, kayaaa, givetherabbitthefreakintrix for favourite storying**

**little miss S, givetherabbitthefreakintrix for favourite authoring**

**Keep em coming!**

**Now, I said something about Krum in my last chapter. I have now decided to replace him with Cedric. The extra stuff I said about, anyway. I hope you like my made-up French Nancy-boy a lot! **

**Shelby's hair has now been cut short…but why? If you can spot something that she happens to do in every chapter when she's around very good-looking boys that is reminiscent of her dad, review and let me know! I might give you a preview!**

**I've been reading GoF and it struck me how much action there is in it, so I'll be using the chapters of the actual book as a guide. This is now the most actiony story I've ever written.**

**If anyone wants a romance between Shelby and Draco, I'm sorry to say that that won't be coming for a long time, because Shelby only really sees Draco as her best friend…for now.**

**And the exciting events of the first three books have been disregarded. I'm just going to assume that Voldemort's previous desperate bids to regain his body happened in far off places from the Twins.**

**That's all for now!**

**LUVYA!**


	5. Interview

-The Unsuspected Evil Butterfly-

-Shelby Potter and the Goblet of Fire-

Chapter Five- Interviews

"_Master, let's just leave the Port-key section of the plan out…Shelby Potter has been chosen as a Champion and she will make it through that final Task, whether she likes it or not. You don't need Harry Potter there in the graveyard. She will revive you and then, if she decides to side against you, then she is the twin that will die. If she wishes to join us, then she can help us kill her brother. Besides, with the massive lead-up to the murder of the twin, it will give you more time to create an illusion of mystery and psych the Wizarding world up…"_

"…_You are most wise, my friend. And you are a good servant to inform me of this so far from the big day of my return. It will be as you have said…"_

"_Thank you, Master…"_

I woke up early again, sweating bullets and feeling very tired. I glanced at my watch on my bedside table; it was six in the morning. No one else was awake, so I got dressed and scribbled down a letter to someone that really needed to hear from me.

_Dear Sirius,_

_I am writing to you in the hope of advice and most of the Honeyduke's chocolate in the house._

_Last night, as you probably know, working in the Ministry Department of Magical Sports and Games, the Triwizard Champions were chosen. I was chosen as a fourth Champion. Don't worry; I didn't put my name in the cup. Mad-Eye Moody says that someone entered me hoping that I would die, but I have every confidence that I can avoid that. You know how experienced and well-prepared I am in these matters; trust me to keep safe._

_I do, however, disagree with Professor Moody. I had a dream last night, one that was made up only of voices. One of the people was Voldemort; after my experiences with Dementors, I have no doubt about it. I couldn't mistake his voice anywhere, ever. The other voice was telling Voldemort something about me surviving the Tournament and then either joining him and the Death Eaters or being murdered by them. _

_In the meantime, you will have a bit of a task from me; can you please pretty please send me some copies of Ministry records that relate to the other Champions? I am very determined to win this contest, whether my life is on the line or not._

_And, do you think you could meet me at our next Hogsmeade weekend? I have figured out all the stuff involved in Animagus transfiguration and the only struggle I'm having is maintaining the focus on me. I'm not _really _breaking the rules, considering that you are pretty much qualified to let me do this, just remember that. If you come, I can explain more fully to you about my dream. Send me a reply by owl._

_Please don't lose faith. I can and will survive this. _

_Lot's of love…_

_Shelby_

_P.S. I just realised that Thirteen's favourite collar isn't here. Can you send it with your reply?_

_P.P.S. Could you find out how Alice is doing? Go and visit her…Miriam said she's been doing things when I'm not there, so maybe she's been reading, I don't know. If she has been, I've enclosed a note to her, so just drop it off when you visit._

I read the letter through once, scribbled down another letter to Alice and then, pushing them into an envelope and sealing it, I tucked it under my arm and ran to the boy's dormitory.

Draco was (surprise, surprise) fast asleep. So were Blaise, Theo, Crabbe, Goyle and Lucifer. I went to Draco's green-velvet- curtained four-poster and shook him awake. He woke up and nearly screamed, but I stuffed my fist on top of his mouth.

"Shut up you prat!" I hissed. "You'll wake everyone up! It's just me! Shelby!"

He relaxed, so I took my fist away from his mouth and wiped it on his bed-cover.

"What the Hell, Shelby?" he whispered. "Why'd you have to wake me up? It's Saturday!"

"I need you to come to the Owlery with me," I replied.

"Why couldn't you just go by yourself?"

"Draco…" said Serena from my shoulder. I turned to look at her and began to blink rapidly.

"Serena?" I said.

"Where did YOU come from?" Draco elaborated. She grinned.

"I heard Shelby leave, so I followed her," she said, flicking a piece of fluff off her clothes. "Draco, you HAVE to come to the Owlery with us."

"Who invited you?" he asked indignantly.

"I did. And, quite frankly, Shelby, I am not impressed that I was only your second choice of best friend to go to the Owlery with."

"Just shut up for a second Serena, and help me get this sack of potatoes out of bed!"

"Oops!" Serena said, smiling. "You shouted."

"OH MERLIN! SHELBY AND SERENA! LADS, HURRY UP AND PUT YOUR PYJAMAS ON!" shouted Blaise. Theo and Lucifer groaned and turned over. Crabbe and Goyle just kept sleeping, like the boulders they resembled.

"Shut up Blaise," Theo moaned.

"Go to hell, Blaise," Lucifer snarled sleepily. I looked at him.

"You sleep naked? _All _of you sleep _naked_?" I implored.

"Not me," Draco piped up. I groaned and smacked my head.

"I can't believe I associate with you people…" I mumbled. "On the one hand, I have a psycho who keeps ominously disappearing and then reappearing when I least suspect it, who also enjoys licking things. On the other hand, there are my stupid gang of giggling hormonal freaks who only pretend to like me because they're not going anywhere without me. And on my extremely sore foot I have a group of conceited man-children that act like primitive animals."

"Aww…" Serena said, holding her hands to her chest like a love-sick anime girl. "Did you hear that? She called me a _psycho_!"

I rolled my eyes and then grabbed Draco's wrist. I pulled.

I ran away and shielded my eyes behind Serena. She needs therapy now. I do too, come to think of it.

"MERLIN! HOW SMALL IS IT?" Blaise screamed. I felt around on the floor and picked up a pair of shoes while I kept one hand over my eyes. I threw the first shoe in Blaise's general direction and the second one at Draco.

"DRACO MALFOY! YOU BLOODY LIAR! PUT SOME BLOODY PANTS ON YOU TWIT!" I screamed. "WAIT! NO! I CAN'T BE SEEN WITH A FREE-BALLER! PUT UNDERWEAR ON FIRST!"

"WELL, CAN'T YOU GET OUT OF HERE NOW? AND…wait, what is Serena doing?"

I peeked through my fingers just long enough to see that Serena was standing there with her wide open eyes frozen on Draco. "M-m-m-m- …_Merlin_," she said.

"I-I'll take her out of here," I answered, feeling for her arm and, upon grabbing it, pulling her out of the room with me, downstairs to our common room.

Once we got downstairs, I shook Serena hard by the arms (by that time, I had removed my hand from my face) and helped her snap out of her little daze. Her eyes became focused again.

When Draco got downstairs, I crossed my arms and glared at him while Serena stared in shock.

"I have a new-found respect for you, dear, sleeping naked," she said. "And I am just going to have to tell Mum that there is NO WAY I am marrying someone who is THAT…er…under- um…developed."

Draco rolled his eyes and walked over to my right side.

"Are we going to the Owlery or not?" he demanded. I smacked him upside the head.

"If you're naked, then you DON'T tell people that you aren't, because they might just pull you out of bed and show everyone," I said.

"Nice 'hypothetical case' there," he replied, smirking.

I raised my hand warningly and he winced and cowered behind his arms.

"Okay, okay!"

As we walked to the Owlery, I told Draco and Serena about my dream.

"So, from what you heard, Voldemort- stop impersonating a lost puppy, Draco- Voldemort wants to either kill you or have you join him and then kill Harry?" Serena said. I nodded and her eyebrows furrowed as she concentrated on what I had just confirmed.

"Well, you know what I think?" Draco put in.

"What?" I inquired.

"Okay, so, you don't know how you're getting these dreams, right? Well, I think that either you have a mind-connection to _Him_ or Harry does and you've been unconsciously entering Harry's thoughts while you're asleep, while Harry listens in on _Him _unconsciously."

"That's quite a theory, Draco," I said, frowning. Of course, _Harry _was the one with the awesome connection to Voldemort. Me, I just get free, undetected access to Harry's thoughts, whenever I want, at my leisure.

I know which I prefer.

"But that means that you have access to _His _thoughts as well," Draco said hurriedly, seeing my usual stupid-luck-is-so-sexist-gives-Harry-all-the-cool-stuff-just-because-he's-a-boy look on my face. "You- you just don't get to choose when AND you might miss some stuff because you'll have to know when Harry's seeing things so that you can get into Harry's mind and see them as well…"

Serena and I stopped for a second and stared at him. Then we burst out laughing.

"Oh, that's total over-kill, mate!" I said to him.

"What?" he asked, looking confused. "What's funny?"

"YOU, you prat!" Serena giggled. "Honestly, the things that you'll do to stay in Shelby's good books…"

"Oh, shut up!" he said darkly.

Serena stuck her tongue out at him.

"So, what did you tell Sirius?" Draco asked.

I shrugged.

"Nothing much, I just told him about being picked for the Tournament. Then I told him about Moody's theory and how I disagree and about the dream. I asked him to get me some stuff on the other Champions. Then I asked him to meet me next Hogsmeade weekend so that he can help me with my Animagus form and so I can give him more detail on the Tournament situation. And then I asked him to send me Thirteen's favourite collar and get me some stuff about how Alice is going."

Draco blinked.

"That's one funny letter," Serena remarked. "It's like 'oh no, someone might want to kill me' to 'I need some info on my competition' and then 'can you help me do something illegal?' then 'send me my cat's collar' and then it gets serious again and you say 'how's my insane godmother?'"

"When you put it that way…" I said. "I guess it does sound pretty weird."

We finally reached the Owlery and, upon selecting a school owl, we sent the envelope to Sirius and then we spent the rest of the weekend (save for lunch breaks) talking in the Slytherin common room.

When I returned to classes on Monday, I finally found out what the rest of Hogwarts was saying about me.

It appeared that everyone except my fellow Slytherins and Cedric believed that I had found some way to put my own name in the Goblet. However, this was not necessarily a bad thing.

As I strutted around the halls of Hogwarts, one arm wrapped around Blaise with Draco at my right side, Serena right behind me and my entire posse crowded around us, I gained annoyed looks from the Hufflepuffs (unless Cedric was around, on account of the fact that he was giving me his 'protection' and support and he was smiling at me whenever we met in the hallways for some strange reason), shifty, mistrustful ones from the Ravenclaws (well, what could they complain about? I actually didn't mind them!) and very calculating, disliking glares, sideways glances and open gazes from the Gryffindors.

Of course, I didn't care about the Hufflepuffs. The poor things never got any glory, seeing as I always stole the snitch out from under Cedric's nose, so I felt sorry for them and always returned their looks with smiles and self-satisfaction.

The Ravenclaws were obviously horrid little shittums for being so snooty when I had been nothing but accepting of their house. Honestly! I mean, Slytherins had to back someone up, didn't they?

Say you had to choose from a house of wand-happy **(A/N: the equivalent of gun-happy), **save-the-world morons, a house of dumb people who knew absolutely nothing and had no great qualities, thus being the reason they were Sorted into that house in the first place and a house of smart intellects, even if said intellects were not much fun at all, who would you think would support your reputation best? Thus, Slytherin had declared Ravenclaw the only other house worth being in.

The Gryffindors had always hated me, I suppose. Although Serena was on rather good terms with the Weasley twins, Fred and George, abbreviated to F.A.G. and pronounced as FAG, even they weren't too nice to me. They only liked Serena because of her love of causing other people misery of the embarrassing kind, and they could only just stand me because I was slightly similar in that way.

It was disappointing, though, when I sat in Potions that day and Harry, Weasley and Granger all glared suspiciously at me. I strained my ears to hear what they were talking about while Snape wrote something on the board and then, when I couldn't hear anything, I escaped to Harry's mind.

"I'm really sorry, Harry, I know she's your sister and all that, but there is just something about her that I don't like…" Granger was saying.

"Yeah, I know. But there is also A LOT about her that I like A LOT," Weasley said. I winced and gripped the table.

"Ron, your crazy," Harry said, shaking his head. "What's so awesome about Shelby? I mean…Hermione's right, she's my sister!"

"Hey, you fantasize about MY sister, in case you forgot!"

"Yeah, well, that's Ginny, isn't it? She's totally better-looking than Shelby."

"In what universe?"

"Well," Granger sniffed, being the pathetic break-it-up chic she was. "I think it's safe to say that Ginny and Shelby are both as –er- desirable as each other. But the point I was trying to make is…do you think she actually put her name in that Goblet?"

"I don't see how not," Ron said, shrugging. "The question is why would anyone else put it in?"

"Well… I did hear a theory yesterday morning in the-"

"The library," the boys finished together. She looked uptight at that.

"No, in the ladies room, actually," she snapped. "That total cow, Pansy Parkinson was talking about it with Railley Nott in sixth year- you know, the prefect you were goggling at the other day, Ron, before I told you she was a Slytherin?"

"Yes, I remember her, Hermione!"

"Just get on with the story, Hermione…"

"Well, they were saying that Serena Dyob told them that Shelby told her, Malfoy and Zabini that Moody thinks that someone wants her dead. And Shelby told Serena, Malfoy and Zabini that she disagreed because of some 'link' that they wouldn't elaborate on."

"Well, if she disagrees with Moody about the assassination attempt, that logically means that she DID put her own name in the G-"

"Oh, Ronald! Don't pretend to know how logic works! This 'link' seems to be in common knowledge with the Slytherin's, but I'm not sure they know much about it, besides Shelby and maybe Serena and Malfoy.

"But from the way they were talking about it, it sounded like serious business…they believe her story that she did not put her name in the Goblet. And I wouldn't normally say that that means anything, but Snape and McGonagall and Dumbledore all believe her and Moody has been keeping an eye on her lately, which makes me think he really does suspect an assassination attempt."

"SO, are you saying we should believe my sister? You do remember those stories I told you from our childhood, right?"

"Harry, to be fair, you didn't hate her before you found out she was a Slytherin, did you? In fact, by your own account, you thought of her as your best friend when you were kids."

"Yeah, well, things have changed now, haven't they? AND I haven't told you about her wand yet…"

I swelled in anger. He shouldn't be talking about my wand!

"No, you haven't," Granger said indignantly. "And you shouldn't, because that's her own business and if you happened to be in the shop while she was purchasing it, then it's your duty to keep the secret."

Right then, I could've pretended that Granger was my favourite Gryffindor, rather than the second-worst (Lavender Brown was a way bigger cow than her any day) but I kept my head.

"Yeah, but that was before this Tournament, right?" Weasley said. "She's going to have to have her wand tested (probably by Ollivander) and they'll probably be mentioning what the core and all that is. AND you can bet anything that that's when they'll bring in the reporters to take photos and record news and such…so the whole wizarding world will know about it sooner or later anyway!"

"Yes, Ronald, but I'm sure Shelby would prefer that it was later. And if the story of her wand is that horrific," here she shot a glare at Harry. "Then Ollivander (assuming he is the person testing the wands) will have enough tact to keep it to himself."

"Oh, it's not horrific. Just surprising."

"What ever. I still think that it's not up to you to be talking about her wand, even if she isn't all that nice…"

"Now then, class. You are to follow the instructions on the board and be sure to pay attention to details…" drawled Snape's voice, so I knew it was time for me to return to my own thoughts.

Of course, Draco and Serena were good at recognising the times when I zoned out of my own consciousness, so when Draco and I walked out of class- Serena having mysteriously disappeared again- he asked me as soon as he was sure that no one else would hear us "So, what was Harry going on about?"

"Well, there was a small internal debate in his mind about if Ginny Weasley and Cho Chang both asked him out at the same time, who he would be more likely to say yes to? But he was more focused on the conversation he was having with Weasley and Granger," I said.

"What was the conversation about?"

"Me."

"What about you?"

"Well, first it was about how mean I am, then how hot I am in comparison to Ginny Weasley, then how mean I am, then how I was Harry's best friend when we were kids and then he had the nerve to bring up my wand."

"OH! That's not fair! Even Draco and I know nothing about your mysterious wand!"

"DAMMIT, SERENA, STOP DOING THAT!" shouted Draco.

"HOW do you do that?" I asked with a mixture of curiosity and frustration. Serena shrugged.

"Well…let's just say I have awesome invisibility powers." Draco and I eyed her pointedly. "Also known as I have an invisibility cloak." We raised our eyebrows. "Which I stole." We crossed our arms. "From the locked trunk that is under Harry's bed in his room," she finished, dropping her head, but brightening again as she pulled something out from her robes. "Along with this random piece of paper, though!"

I froze. I knew that random piece of paper…why had it been in Harry's room? And why was the Invisibility Cloak in Harry's room. The most important question was really what was Serena doing in Harry's room, but right then I did not care about her.

"I am going to KILL my godfather next time I see him!"

"Why?" Draco asked. "What's so special about that piece of paper and what does Sirius have to do with i- OH! Is it _that _piece of parchment?"

"What piece of parchment? Serena asked in confusion. "It's just a piece of parchment, right? I was just going to throw it in the fire anyway, it looked important to Harry…"

"Throw that in the fire and discover just how mortal your 'RUN FOR IT!' joke really is without you…" I threatened nastily. "You have no idea what you are holding in your hands right now…"

"Why is Draco allowed to know?" she sulked.

"Because Draco and I are just that little bit closer than I am to you, Serena!" I told her. "And…he saw Harry with it and asked me, so I told him."

"What, just like that?"

"Just like that," Draco replied, smirking.

Serena frowned.

"We're going to have a little chat later, Draco dear…"she said.

"Whatever," he shot back.

"Hand the parchment to me, Serena!" I said, holding out my hand expectantly. She hung her head and placed it in my palm. "And you can give me the Cloak while you're at it…" I continued. She dumped that on my hand as well and then moved in closer to see what the parchment did.

I took out my wand and tapped it on the parchment. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," I recited, watching the map unfold…

It was still in perfect working condition, at least. Serena and Draco (who had only ever heard about the map) were gazing at it with wonder. The map showed everything in Hogwarts, including secret passageways and such, as well as everyone in Hogwarts. Where they were, sometimes what they were doing, how they were moving. I missed looking at it. My eyes flickered up to the top of the parchment. _Messres Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs proudly present the Marauder's Map._ My eyes read the words lovingly, in memory of all the Marauders. Poor Wormtail was now rotting away rapidly in Azkaban for betraying her parents to Voldemort, although, of course I had forgiven him readily owing to the fact that sometimes death threats could speak louder than hearts. Poor Moony was desperately searching for a job after last year where Professor Snape finally got sick of having him around at the end of the year and told everyone about his lycanthropy. Sirius was going to be moving him into Grimmauld Place now. Poor Prongs, dead. Poor Padfoot, having to put up with Harry for two months every year. It should only have been my burden to bear.

Meanwhile, Draco and Serena were still gazing in awe at the wonders of the map.

"Is that…?" Serena asked, pointing at a dot.

"Dumbledore. In his office. Pacing. He does that rather a lot, actually," I replied. **(A/N: I just HAD to add that!)**

"Hmm…so I see," Draco said with interest. "Now, where is Blaise? I owe him a good hex in the face…"

"Why? What did Blaise do to you?" I demanded, defending my boyfriend. But Draco just looked away and muttered "Wouldn't you like to know…" immediately eliciting Serena's probably unwelcome attention. She immediately pulled away from the map and stared outright at his face, frowning in concentration or deep thought.

"Hey, who's that?" I asked pointing at a dot labelled Brooke Camydac, which was located in the library and accompanied by another dot labelled Theodore Nott. "I've never seen her name on here before!"

"You wouldn't have. Neither would Draco," Serena said. "That's where I went off to just now, actually. She was sitting in our Potions class, but you two were too busy being nerds to notice her."

"Who is she, exactly?" Draco asked.

"Well, she's the new girl, isn't she? She just transferred here from home-school. This morning I was asked by Dumbledore to show her around, 'cause she was Sorted into Slytherin. I just walked a little way with her and then we met up with Theo and they started talking. According to this map, I left her in capable hands," she said, smirking and gesturing at Brooke and Theo's dots. "That was the first time I've ever seen Theo look interested."

"Interesting…" It seemed that I might have competition…

"Oh, she's not competition, Shell, so don't worry," Serena said casually as I wiped the Map and tucked it under my arm and the three of us started to stroll leisurely to dinner. "She's definitely got looks, and she seemed pretty smart, but she doesn't flaunt it the way you do. But you know just as well as I do that it was always going to take a really special girl to make Theo pubescent. Besides, it only matters in the eyes of certain people that are always judging you by your arse rather than your brain…"

"So, you mean boys?" I said in a bored voice. She grinned.

"Exactly!"

I didn't have to wait long for a proper introduction to Brooke Camydac. When we arrived at dinner, Theo was just coming in, accompanied by a very pretty fifteen-year-old girl. She was pretty tall for our age.

Me, Draco and Serena all sat in our normal seats (in between Viktor Krum and Lucifer, right in the middle of the table). Blaise held my hand from across the table and then, beside him, Theo and Brooke started sitting down.

Up close, Brooke was even prettier. Her golden brown-blonde hair hung straight on either side of her until it cut at a blunt edge at her chin. It glistened in the light of the chandeliers. Her eyes were that pretty colour where they weren't quite blue, or grey or green, but somewhere between the three. Her lashes were long, black and lush and her eyebrows arched elegantly over her eyes.

She was tall, and slim too, but not too slim. And she had that look about her that made me know straight away that she was very smart. Maybe not as smart as me, but very, very close. I wonder what her Slytherin side was…

"Hey guys," Theo said cheerfully while helping Brooke into her seat. His brown eyes shone with warmth and happiness and his hand was stuck in his handsomely dishevelled mop of dark-brown hair. "I want you to meet Brooke. Well, except Serena, she already knows her."

Serena waved at her and she smiled and waved back.

"Hi guys!" she said. "I'm Brooke!"

"Hi, nice to meet you," I said enthusiastically. "I'm Shelby Potter. A.K.A. Slytherin Princess."

"Oh, she's very conceited alright," Draco said smartly, smiling indulgently at me. "I'm Draco Malfoy." He sent me a sly side-ways glance. "A.K.A. Slytherin Prince."

Brooke grinned at us. "I see you two are a pre-packaged pair…" she said, kindly making no comments about 'THE Shelby Potter?'

"I'm Lucifer…" Lucifer mumbled. "And this is probably the most you'll ever hear me talk with a time-frame of five minutes." He gave Brooke a rare smile and then stared moodily at Serena.

"Blaise Zabini," said Blaise charmingly, offering her his hand. I scowled slightly at him. "It's nice to meet you…"

She shook his hand and kept smiling.

"Pansy Parkinson," Pansy said in boredom, sawing at a snagged fingernail with a metal nail-file.

"I'm Daphne Greengrass!" Daphne proclaimed brightly in a living-Barbie-doll voice.

"I'm her sister, Astoria!" Astoria chirped from next to her, where the third year section of the table began.

"I'm Theo's sister," Railley said, also leaning over from her seat next to Blaise to offer a friendly hand. "Name's Railley."

"And those two blobs over there are Crabbe and Goyle," I said, motioning to them where they were at the first year end of the table, where they sat because they thought the best food was there.

She nodded and met my eyes, smiling.

"So, is that everyone now?" she asked sarcastically but she still looked friendly, so I grinned back at her.

"Yep. Unless you'd like to see the people we must avoid at all costs." I tossed my head in the direction of the Gryffindor table.

"Those are the Gryffindors, right?" she asked. "Theo said that you mostly hate them."

"Yeah, Theo was right," Draco said. "We especially hate Harry Potter (Shelby's twin), Weasley and Granger (his best friends that are around him at all hours of the day) and Weasley's sister, that redhead girl sitting beside them. Oh, and Shelby's mortal enemy, Lavender Brown." He counted them off on his fingers as he said their names. "Also, the Weasley twins, the almighty ones we call FAG and Neville Longbottom are untouchable due to an unexplainable interest one the parts of Shelby and Serena."

I scowled at him and then looked back at Brooke. "Neville's mum is my godmother and she is mentally unstable," I said aggressively. "It's SERENA who has an UNEXPLAINABLE interest in the Weasley twins."

"Whoa, whoa!" Theo said. "It's Draco you should be talking to like that; Brooke didn't do anything!"

I grimaced and elbowed Draco in the kidneys. "Sorry Brooke."

"That's okay," she said non-chalantly and shrugging while helping herself to some food. "She's mentally unstable. That gives you a right to be touchy."

"Thanks for understanding," I replied, smiling warmly at her again. I really liked Brooke.

Over the rest of the week, living closely with her, I began to see Brooke's Slytherin side. She told us that she was going to be in Ravenclaw, but the Sorting Hat found other ideas. It turned out that, while she wasn't vain or flashy and while she was really a very lovely person, she had a proud, smug streak which the Hat thought was more Slytherin material than Ravenclaw. Besides which, while she was smart, she just didn't need to study, so she had little interest in it unless it was necessary.

On Thursday of that week, something else of great significance happened.

Me and the rest of my Slytherin friends were waiting for Snape to let us into Double Potions. The Gryffindors each were wearing a red badge. Except for Granger, for some reason. I saw that they all bore the same message, in luminous red letters that burnt brightly in the dimly lit underground passage:

SUPPORT CEDRIC DIGGORY—THE REAL HOGWARTS CHAMPION!

"Like them, Shelby?" said Brown loudly as I approached. "And this isn't all they do - look!"

She pressed her badge into her chest, and the message upon it vanished, to be replaced by another one, which glowed green: POTTER STINKS!

The Gryffindors howled with laughter. Except Granger, for some reason. Each of them pressed their badges too, until the message POTTER STINKS was shining brightly all around me. I felt the heat rise in my face. No one dissed me in front of my friends and got away with it. For once, I was having trouble keeping my cool.

"Oh very funny," Brooke said sarcastically to Brown and Patil, who were laughing harder than anyone, "really witty."

Ron was standing against the wall with Dean and Seamus. All of them were laughing their arses off.

"Want one, Newby?" said Brown, holding out a badge to her. "I've got loads. But don't touch my hand that much. I don't want ANY kind of Slytherin making contact with my skin, thank you."

Theo started pulling his wand out of his pocket angrily.

"You should shut up…" he growled and Brown-the-Bitchy.

"Harry!" Hermione said warningly.

"Go on, then, Nott," my brother said quietly, drawing out his own wand. "You wouldn't dare touch her…"

Of course, Harry only liked Weaslette and Cho Chang from Ravenclaw. He was just defending Brown to look like a hero. For a split second, he and Theo looked into each other's eyes, then, at exactly the same time, both acted.

"Funnunculus!" Harry yelled.

"Densaugeo!" screamed Theo.

Jets of light shot from both wands, hit each other in midair, and ricocheted off at angles — Harry's hit Goyle in the face, and Theo's hit Granger.

Goyle bellowed and put his hands to his nose, where great ugly boils were springing up - Granger, whimpering in panic, was clutching her mouth.

"Hermione!"

Ron Weasley had hurried forward to see what was wrong with her; He dragged Granger's hand away from her face. It wasn't a pretty sight. Granger's front teeth - already larger than average were now growing at an alarming rate; she was looking more and more like a beaver as her teeth elongated, past her bottom lip, toward her chin - panic-stricken, she felt them and let out a terrified cry.

"And what is all this noise about?" said a soft, deadly voice.

Snape had arrived. We Slytherins clamoured to give our explanations; Snape pointed a long yellow finger at Theo and said, "Explain."

"Potter attacked me, sir -"

"We attacked each other at the same time!" Harry shouted.

"- and he hit Goyle - look -"

Snape examined Goyle, whose face now resembled something that would have been at home in a book on poisonous fungi.

"Hospital wing, Goyle," Snape said calmly.

"Malfoy got Hermione!" Weasley said. "Look!"

He forced Granger to show Snape her teeth - she was doing her best to hide them with her hands, though this was difficult as they had now grown down past her collar. Pansy Parkinson and Daphne were doubled up with silent giggles, pointing at her from behind Snape's back. Brooke, Serena and I looked at her. We recognised that she maybe wasn't that bad, judging by the fact that she had refused to taunt me. And that she had stuck up for me during the conversation she, Weasley and Harry had had about my wand, which I had already informed my friends about.

Snape looked coldly at her and said, "I see no difference."

Granger let out a whimper; her eyes filled with tears, she turned on her heel and ran, ran all the way up the corridor and out of sight.

It was lucky, perhaps, that both Harry and Ron started shouting at Snape at the same time; lucky their voices echoed so much in the stone corridor, for in the confused din, it was impossible for him to hear exactly what they were calling him. He got the gist, however.

"Let's see," he said, in his silkiest voice. "Fifty points from Gryffindor and a detention each for Potter and Weasley. Now get inside, or it'll be a week's worth of detentions."

I walked in with everyone else, still thinking about Granger and sat down at a table with just Draco, while Serena sat with Brooke and Theo. Blaise scowled, but readily accepted a place with Crabbe and Goyle, which was going to be frustrating for him.

Brown turned her back on Snape and pressed her badge, smirking. POTTER STINKS flashed once more across the room. Harry sat there staring at Snape as the lesson began and I didn't need to be in his mind to know that he was picturing horrific things happening to him…

"Antidotes!" said Snape, looking around at them all, his cold black eyes glittering unpleasantly. "You should all have prepared your recipes now. I want you to brew them carefully, and then, we will be selecting someone on whom to test one…"

Snape's eyes met Harry's, and I knew what was coming. Snape was going to poison him. I smirked. That would serve him right, for wearing one of those stupid badges. He was supposed to be my brother for crying out loud! My TWIN BROTHER! I mean, weren't twins supposed to be exactly like FAG?

And then a knock on the dungeon door burst in on my thoughts.

It was Colin Creevey, my brother's third year fan-boy; he edged into the room, beaming at Harry, and walked up to Snape's desk at the front of the room.

"Yes?" said Snape curtly.

"Please, sir, I'm supposed to take Shelby Potter upstairs." Snape stared down his hooked nose at Colin, whose smile faded from his eager face.

"Miss Potter has another hour of Potions to complete," said Snape coldly. "She will come upstairs when this class is finished."

Because he needed my already brewed perfect potion to save Harry after he poisoned him, of course.

Colin went pink.

"Sir - sir, Mr. Bagman wants her," he said nervously. "All the champions have got to go; I think they want to take photographs…"

Photos? Publicity? Awesomeness? Showing off? Probably for the _Daily Prophet_? Well, I'd just HAVE to go now! This was my only chance to look cooler than Harry…

"Professor, this does sound rather important," I said. "I had better go with Creevey…"

"Very well, very well," Snape said. "Miss Potter, leave your special instructions with Draco here, I can't risk anything unpleasant and I rather needed your antidote…I want you back down here later to see your recipe in action."

"Please, sir - she's got to take her things with her," squeaked Colin. "All the champions…"

"Very well!" said Snape. "Miss Potter - take your bag and go!"

I swung my bag over my shoulder, got up, and headed for the door. As I walked through the Gryffindor desks, POTTER STINKS flashed at me from every direction. Except from Granger's seat, for some reason. Oh, wait, Granger had gone running to the hospital wing before the lesson even started.

I didn't speak to Colin at all except to ask "What do they want photos for, Colin?"

"The Daily Prophet, I think!"

"Great," I said brightly. "Exactly what I need. More publicity. You see, I thought the world was beginning to like Harry better than me…"

Colin left when we had reached the right room. I knocked on the door and entered.

I was in a fairly small classroom; most of the desks had been pushed away to the back of the room, leaving a large space in the middle; three of them, however, had been placed end-to-end in front of the blackboard and covered with a long length of velvet. Five chairs had been set behind the velvet-covered desks, and Ludo Bagman was sitting in one of them, talking to a witch I had never seen before, who was wearing magenta robes.

Viktor Krum was standing moodily in a corner as usual and not talking to anybody. Cedric and Benjamin were in conversation. Benjamin looked a good deal happier than I had seen him so far; it was fairly obvious that he was a poster-boy like me…well I was a poster-GIRL.

A grubby, fat-ish man, holding a large black camera that was smoking slightly, was setting up his equipment in the corner of the room.

Bagman suddenly spotted me, got up quickly, and bounded forward.

"Ah, here she is! Champion number four! In you come, Shelby, in you come… nothing to worry about, it's just the wand weighing ceremony; the rest of the judges will be here in a moment -"

"Wand weighing?" I repeated curiously.

"We have to check that your wands are fully functional, no problems, you know, as they're your most important tools in the tasks ahead," said Bagman. "The expert's upstairs now with Dumbledore. And then there's going to be a little photo shoot. This is Rita Skeeter," he added, gesturing toward the witch in magenta robes. "She's doing a small piece on the tournament for the Daily Prophet…"

I knew that it would be her! Even better…there was going to be a lot of scandal going around about me by tomorrow…

"Maybe not that small, Ludo," said Rita Skeeter, her eyes on me. I glared back defiantly and smiled sweetly.

She was more or less what I had expected. Her hair was set in elaborate and curiously rigid curls that contrasted oddly with her heavy-jawed face. She wore jewelled spectacles. The thick fingers clutching her crocodile-skin handbag ended in two-inch nails, painted crimson.

"I wonder if I could have a little word with Shelby before we start?" she said to Bagman, but still gazing fixedly at me, now smiling sweetly back. "The youngest champion, you know… to add a bit of colour?"

"Certainly!" cried Bagman. "That is - if Shelby has no objection?"

"Of course not," I said.

"Lovely," said Rita Skeeter, and in a second, her scarlet-taloned fingers had my upper arm in a surprisingly strong grip, and she was steering me out of the room again and opening a nearby door.

"We don't want to be in there with all that noise," she said. "Let's see… ah, yes, this is nice and cosy."

It was a broom cupboard. I stared at her with sanity-questioning eyes.

"Come along, dear - that's right - lovely," said Rita Skeeter again, perching herself precariously upon an upturned bucket, pushing me down onto a cardboard box, and closing the door, throwing them into darkness.

I rubbed my arm.

"You are never to touch me again, bit- I mean you're not allowed to touch me, just hurt my ears with your horrible voice!" Ha, ha! The headlines tomorrow are sure to read _The Girl Who Lived: An Everyday Bratty Teenager?_

Skeeter smiled horribly at me. "I'll remember that for future reference," she said silkily. "Let's see now…"

She unsnapped her crocodile-skin handbag and pulled out a handful of candles, which she lit with a wave of her wand and magicked into midair, so that we could see what we were doing.

"You won't mind, Shelby, if I use a Quick-Quotes Quill? It leaves me free to talk to you normally…"

"Of course not…" I purred. This whole bloody interview depended on that Quill and it's nasty reputation!

Rita Skeeter's smile dropped and she eyed me suspiciously. She reached again into her crocodile bag and drew out a long acid-green quill and a roll of parchment, which she stretched out between us on a crate of Mrs. Skower's All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover. She put the tip of the green quill into her mouth, sucked it for a moment with apparent relish and then placed it upright on the parchment, where it stood balanced on its point, quivering slightly.

"Testing… my name is Rita Skeeter, Daily Prophet reporter."

I looked down quickly at the quill, to see how biased it was. The moment Skeeter had spoken the green quill had started to scribble, skidding across the parchment:

_Attractive blonde Rita Skeeter, forty-three, who's savage quill has punctured many inflated reputations …_

"Lovely," said Skeeter, yet again, and she ripped the top piece of parchment off, crumpled it up, and stuffed it into her handbag. Now she leaned toward me and said, "So, Shelby… what made you decide to enter the Triwizard Tournament?"

"Well…" I said, partially trying to glamorise the story and partially looking at what kind of crap the quill was writing. Even though I wasn't speaking, it was dashing across the parchment, and in its wake I could make out a fresh sentence:

_A pretty, silvery heart-shaped scar, souvenir of a tragic past, is prominent and complimentary upon the gorgeous face of young Shelby Potter, whose eyes –_

My eyes narrowed. She. Was. Girlifying. Me. This was NOT part of my publicity plan!

"Ignore the quill, Shelby," said Rita Skeeter firmly. Unhappily I looked up at her instead. I wasn't going to let some girly reputation stop me, now, was I? "Now — why did you decide to enter the tournament, Shelby?"

"I didn't," I said boldly. "I don't know how my name got into the Goblet of Fire. I didn't put it in there."

Rita Skeeter raised one heavily pencilled eyebrow.

"Come now, Shelby, there's no need to be scared of getting into trouble. We all know you shouldn't really have entered at all. But don't worry about that. Our readers love a rebel."

"But I didn't enter," I repeated. "I don't know who – wait. There is this one theory that the people who count have…"

"Oh?" she said. "Do share this theory…" Heh, heh, heh. _The Girl Who Lived is also an accomplished liar, although she tells this story truthfully enough…if it IS true, we must believe that she is, in fact, the gutsiest teenager around…_

"Well, they think that perhaps someone older wanted to enter me in the hope that I would be killed…"

Skeeter gasped and the Quill was now scratching frantically. Yeah. I knew, of course, that she was simply gasping to patronise me and the Quill was going on about my rebel-ness.

"Can you tell me who these people are?" she asked eagerly. I smirked and shook my head. "Why?" I asked sweetly. "So that you can destroy their lives? I don't think so."

For a moment, Skeeter looked like she wanted to wrap one of her hands around my throat and wring the truth out of me, but she quickly composed herself and grinned at me again. This time, I was able to see her gold teeth, of which she had three.

"How do you feel about the tasks ahead?" she recovered. "Excited? Nervous?"

I snorted. "Excited, of course," I scoffed. I could feel a good headline coming on again.

"Champions have died in the past, haven't they?" said Skeeter briskly. "Have you thought about that at all?"

"Of course I have…" I said with an impatient sigh.

The quill whizzed across the parchment between them, back and forward as though it were skating.

"Of course, you've looked death in the face before, haven't you, when you were just a child?" she continued, watching me closely. "How would you say that's affected you?"

"It's made me a Slytherin," I informed her importantly. "And, even though my parents were tragically lost in the struggle, I've come to realise that it hasn't really made my life any worse…better lost before I knew them then when I'd come to love them."

"Are you saying you don't care that your parents are dead?" she asked me, eyes round with fake concern.

"Of course not! I'm just saying that it has moulded my life into something beautiful…and that I wouldn't truly change places with anyone…" I said placidly. She smirked at me. I was now going to be called a malicious freak. Goody.

"We'll come back to your parents later," she said. Do you think that the trauma in your past might have made you keen to prove yourself? To live up to your name? Do you think that perhaps you were tempted to enter the Triwizard Tournament because -?"

"I didn't enter wax-ears. "OR CAN'T YOU HEAR ME?" I said loudly and slowly, gesturing at her to emphasise my words.

"Can you remember your parents at all?" Skeeter cut across me, beginning to look angry.

"No," I said. "I JUST SAID THAT!"

"How do you think they'd feel if they knew you were competing in the Triwizard Tournament? Proud? Worried? Angry?"

Now was the time for me to really take out the garbage.

"How on earth am I supposed to know how my parents would feel if they were alive? They AREN'T alive!" I told her impatiently. She was frowning, so I (feeling very satisfied with myself) avoided her gaze and looked down at words the quill had just written:

_Tears fill those alluring hazel eyes as our conversation turns to the parents she can barely remem- I CAN'T DO IT ANYMORE, RITA! SHE'S JUST NOT GIRLY!_

"I see you are trying a very fake angle, Ms Skeeter!" I said happily, pointing at the parchment as the Quill now began to scratch everything and begin a-fresh, saying that I was a total bitch in short.

Before Skeeter could say a word, the door of the broom cupboard was pulled open. I looked around, blinking in the bright light. Albus Dumbledore stood there, looking down at both of us, squashed into the cupboard.

"Dumbledore!" cried Rita Skeeter, with every appearance of delight - but Harry noticed that her quill and the parchment had suddenly vanished from the box of Magical Mess Remover, and Rita's clawed fingers were hastily snapping shut the clasp of her crocodile-skin bag.

"How are you?" she said, standing up and holding out one of her large, mannish hands to Dumbledore. "I hope you saw my piece over the summer about the International Confederation of Wizards' Conference?"

"Enchantingly nasty," said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling. "I particularly enjoyed your description of me as an obsolete dingbat."

Skeeter didn't look remotely abashed.

"I was just making the point that some of your ideas are a little old-fashioned, Dumbledore, and that many wizards in the street -"

"I will be delighted to hear the reasoning behind the rudeness, Rita," said Dumbledore, with a courteous bow and a smile, "but I'm afraid we will have to discuss the matter later. The Weighing of the Wands is about to start, and it cannot take place if one of our champions is hidden in a broom cupboard."

Very glad with my progress with Skeeter, I strutted confidently back into the room. The other champions were now sitting in chairs near the door, and I sat down quickly next to Cedric, looking up at the velvet-covered table, where four of the five judges were now sitting - Professor Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, Mr. Crouch, and Ludo Bagman. Rita Skeeter settled herself down in a corner; I saw her slip the parchment out of her bag again, spread it on her knee, suck the end of the Quick-Quotes Quill, and place it once more on the parchment.

"May I introduce Mr. Ollivander?" said Dumbledore, taking his place at the judges' table and talking to the champions. "He will be checking your wands to ensure that they are in good condition before the tournament."

I looked around, and with a knowing smile saw an old wizard with large, pale eyes standing quietly by the window. I could count on Ollivander to brag about my wand if I so chose, considering that he was the wand-maker from whom I had bought it over three years ago in Diagon Alley.

"Monsieur Lecroix, could we have you first, please?" said Mr. Ollivander, stepping into the empty space in the middle of the room.

Pretty boy swept over to Mr. Ollivander and handed him his wand.

"Hmm…" Ollivander said.

He twirled the wand between his long fingers like a baton and it emitted a number of pink and gold sparks. Then he held it chose to his eyes and examined it carefully.

"Yes," he said quietly, "Twelve and a half inches… quite stiff… olive wood… and containing… dear me…"

"An 'air from ze 'ead of a veela," said Benjamin. "One of a friend of the family's."

So Benjamin knew veela…Interesting…I wondered if it was that Fleur Delacour girl…

"Yes," said Mr. Ollivander, "yes, I've never used veela hair myself, of course. I find it makes for rather temperamental wands… however, to each his own, and if this suits you…"

Mr. Ollivander ran his fingers along the wand, apparently checking for scratches or bumps; then he muttered, "Orchideous!" and a bunch of flowers burst from the wand tip.

"Very well, very well, it's in fine working order," said Mr. Ollivander, scooping up the flowers and handing them to Benjamin with his wand. "Mr. Diggory, you next." Benjamin strode back to his seat, smiling at Cedric as he passed him.

"Ah, now, this is one of mine, isn't it?" said Mr. Ollivander, with much more enthusiasm, as Cedric handed over his wand. "Yes, I remember it well. Containing a single hair from the tail of a particularly fine male unicorn… must have been seventeen hands; nearly gored me with his horn after I plucked his tail. Twelve and a quarter inches… ash… pleasantly springy. It's in fine condition… You treat it regularly?"

"Polished it last night," said Cedric, grinning.

I looked down at my own wand. I never polished it, but that wasn't because I hated doing it so desperately. For some reason (the special ingredient, probably *wink, wink*) it never got dirty at all. Its softly shining, smooth, creamy brown surface was immaculate and had not a fingerprint on it.

Mr. Ollivander sent a stream of silver smoke rings across the room from the tip of Cedric's wand, pronounced himself satisfied, and then said, "Mr. Krum, if you please."

Viktor Krum got up and slouched, round-shouldered and duck-footed, toward Mr. Ollivander. He thrust out his wand and stood scowling, with his hands in the pockets of his robes.

"Hmm," said Mr. Ollivander, "this is a Gregorovitch creation, unless I'm much mistaken? A fine wand-maker, though the styling is never quite what I… however…"

He lifted the wand and examined it minutely, turning it over and over before his eyes.

"Yes… hornbeam and dragon heartstring?" he shot at Krum, who nodded. "Rather thicker than one usually sees… quite rigid… ten and a quarter inches… Avis!"

The hornbeam wand let off a blast hike a gun, and a number of small, twittering birds flew out of the end and through the open window into the watery sunlight.

"Good," said Mr. Ollivander, handing Krum back his wand. "Which leaves… Miss Potter."

I got to my feet and sauntered proudly past Krum to Mr. Ollivander. I handed over my wand.

"Aaaah, yes," said Mr. Ollivander, his pale eyes suddenly gleaming. "Yes, yes, yes. How well I remember."

I could remember too. I could remember it as though it had happened yesterday…

I had never shared this piece of information with anybody. I was very fond of my wand and I had been saving its dirty little secret for some time that would blow everyone's minds. I hoped Mr Ollivander would honour my request. I had a funny feeling Rita Skeeter's Quick-Quotes Quill might just explode with excitement if he did.

I leaned over closer to him and whispered "Tell if you want…it really isn't so bad…tell the whole story and I'm sure you won't look evil."

"Are you sure you want the entire Wizarding World to know about this, Miss Potter," he asked, raising an eyebrow. I smiled and nodded and he held my wand up for everyone to see.

"This," he proclaimed, "is my finest creation. It is made of beech wood that I cut from a tree which housed a young basilisk. I slew the beast and then took its skin and venom as the core of the wand. It is the first Basilisk wand ever made… It is thirteen inches, as flexible as it needs to be at the time of use and wonderful for spell-work of any kind…"

Everyone stared at me with their mouths ajar. The quill was so fast I could barely see it move. I closed my eyes in bliss. _The wand belonging to The Girl Who Lived is a clear indicator of her dark, dangerous nature…_

Mr. Ollivander spent much longer examining my wand than anyone else's. Eventually, however, he made a fountain of wine shoot out of it, and handed it back to me, announcing that it was still in perfect condition. Not that I didn't already know that.

"Thank you all," said Dumbledore, standing up at the judges' table. "You may go back to your lessons now - or perhaps it would be quicker just to go down to dinner, as they are about to end-"

Feeling very proud of myself, I got up to leave, but the man with the black camera jumped up and cleared his throat.

"Photos, Dumbledore, photos!" cried Bagman excitedly. "All the judges and champions, what do you think, Rita?"

"Er - yes, let's do those first," said Rita Skeeter, whose malicious eyes were upon me again. "And then perhaps some individual shots."

The photographs took a long time. Madame Maxime cast everyone else into shadow wherever she stood and the photographer couldn't stand far enough back to get her into the frame; eventually she had to sit while everyone else stood around her. Karkaroff kept twirling his goatee around his finger to give it an extra curl; Krum, whom I would have thought would have been used to this sort of thing, skulked, half-hidden, at the back of the group. The photographer seemed keenest to get me at the front and Skeeter kept hurrying forward and dragging me into even greater prominence. Then she insisted on separate shots of all the champions. At last, we were free to go.

**So…like it? I know it was uber long but…a certain someone who's initials are SD or SB should be satisfied for a while!**

**Eternal Love to:**

**LittleMissSmile, ForeverTeamEdward13 for story alerting.**

**adragonspixie88, Puppy dog eyes, B.O.B (I know who u r), ada-cullen, some random who didn't leave a name, Some Random (I know who u r), ForeverTeamEdward13, Searena (the ever threatening), BadassAlec for reviewing. You guys rule.**

**xXMizz Alec VolturiXx, HilariouslyInsane for favourite story-ing.**

**Givetherabbitthefreakintrix for favourite authoring.**

**I LUVS YA ALL!**

**Ok, You have now met Brooke, another charming young girl that I know and love! In the besties kinda way though…please tell me if u like her, because I'm sure she'd love to know!**

**Also, a question to all non-Australian readers (because I am curious) do you know what a wallaby is? Review and say so.**

**L8r!**


	6. Dragons

-The Unsuspected Evil Butterfly-

Shelby Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Chapter Six- Dragons

I was dreaming what Harry dreamed tonight. I could tell, because my mind wasn't lame enough that it would dream anything that had my brother's face in it.

Harry was dreaming that he was in the bathroom. How lovely. He was in the bathroom, lurking behind a door and listening to Draco and Serena argue about something. Apparently, Harry had a lot of imagination. Serena in the boys' bathroom? Then I really thought about that and decided that it wasn't imagination so much as intuition.

"_I know your secret Draco," Serena said, smirking. "I know you're in love with Shelby…"_

"_And here I thought you only looked like a girl," Draco muttered. "You DO realise how girly and pathetic that sounds, right?"_

_She smirked wider. "Yes, but I also realise that it's true."_

_He shook his head._

"_You're crazy…"_

"_I can't believe I'm hearing this…" Harry muttered to himself. I privately thought that he shouldn't be able to believe he was smart enough to hear anything. Much less process the information._

"_I am NOT crazy. I pick things up, you know. Like the fact that every single one of Shelby's previous boyfriends have been found unconscious and sprouting boils on their faces at periods of time where you have been absent from anyone's presence. Except Blaise, of course, because you have to wait until they've broken up so that there's less chance of her being angry if she finds out it was you."_

"_You know nothing, Serena. Absolutely NOTHING!"_

"_Your tone of voice suggests otherwise."_

"_Well, what about you and Lucifer," Draco cast around desperately, obviously trying to sidetrack her. _

"_Who cares about me and Lucifer? No one. But you and Shelby could be big news…EVERYONE cares about that!"_

"_That's an even better reason for me to say nothing!"_

_Serena put her hand on Draco's shoulder and looked at him seriously._

"_You won't tell anyone, will you?" he asked her childishly. She shook her head._

"_Of course not. That's your job…"_

"_Okay. Thankyou…"_

_Then Harry stepped out from behind the door that he had been lurking behind. Serena caught sight of him and raised her wand._

"_Why, Harry!" she purred. "I've been simply dying to find out if I can do this new spell I heard about in Charms…"_

_She and Draco advanced on him and both drew out their wands and then I was withdrawn from the scene and placed in a meaningless dream where Cho Chang and Ginny Weasley had a hot catfight._

"You've had an owl," said Brooke pleasantly the moment I reached my seat at breakfast the next day. She nodded to the plate of toast in front of my seat. The school barn owl was waiting for him there.

"Thanks, Brooke," I said.

I reached over to the barn owl, took the letter off its leg, and unrolled it.

_Shelby -_

_I can't say everything I would like to in a letter, it's too risky in case the owl is intercepted - we need to talk face-to-face. _

_I know better than anyone that you can look after yourself and while you're around Dumbledore and Moody I don't think anyone will be able to hurt you. However, someone seems to be having a good try. Entering you in that tournament would have been very risky, especially right under Dumbledore's nose._

_Be on the watch, Shelby. I want to hear about anything unusual._

_Sirius_

_P.S. Despite your urges to me not to worry, I WILL worry and there's nothing you can do about it._

_P.P.S. Sorry about the absence of the chocolate, I, uh, finished it all_

_P.P.P.S. Here's the collar. It WAS the green one, right?_

_P.P.P.P.S. I gave Alice your letter. She did seem quite rational and she read it as soon as she got it. The Healer said that she is just having trouble with remembering everyone except you._

_P.P.P.P.P.S. Tell me the date of your next Hogsmeade weekend and I'll come and help you. This is exciting! I'll also talk to you then about the tournament. So that I don't waste anymore post-scripts, please tell Harry that I'm expecting a letter from him._

A fortnight later, Rita Skeeter published her piece about the Triwizard Tournament, and it had turned out to be not so much a report on the tournament as a highly coloured life story about me, that started off being all tragic and then proceeded to basically call me a juvenile delinquent. Much of the front page had been given over to a picture of me; the article (continuing on pages two, six, and seven) had been all about me, the names of the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang champions (misspelled) had been squashed into the last line of the article, and Cedric hadn't been mentioned at all.

My plan had come to fruition.

The article had appeared ten days ago, and I still got a wonderful feeling of self-satisfaction every time I thought about it. Rita Skeeter had reported me saying an awful lot of things that I couldn't remember ever saying in my life, let alone in that broom cupboard.

_I really can not stand my friends. They don't really care about me, I can tell, they just want a piece of my glory…_

_Yes, I have had about a thousand steady boyfriends, snogging included, I'm not ashamed to admit it… _

_I know nothing will happen to me in the tournament because I can kick some mean ass on my own, thank you very much…_

But Rita Skeeter had gone even further than inventing long, non-existent sentences: She had interviewed other people about me too.

_Shelby has found love at Hogwarts multiple times. However, her close friend, Astoria Greengrass, says that Shelby is rarely seen out of the company of one Draco Malfoy, a known good-looking pureblood boy who, like Shelby, is one of the top students in the school. Draco's father is Lucius Malfoy, a well-respected member of the wizarding community and generous financial contributor to the Ministry of Magic._

From the moment the article had appeared, I had had to endure people — Ravenclaws, mainly — talking about it all over he place, discussing what the article was saying about how I was going to go in the Triwizard Tournament.

"She says she can kick ass…I'm definitely putting my money on her for this Tournament."

"She IS one of the top students in the school…I think she could probably thrash the competition!"

In short, my life was amazing at the moment. As I had planned, all the talk about the article had left Harry shunted to the side and there was new-found respect for my own quaint scar.

"SHELBY!" Astoria shouted to me one day in the Slytherin common room. "Can you PLEASE draw the shape of your scar on my face? PLEASE?"

"Why do you want the shape of my scar on your face?"

"I don't want it. I NEED IT!"

"You're being melodramatic…"

"Come on! I'm fighting with the Gryffindors and they all say that Harry's better than you, he's not and I told them that you're cooler because you give out autographs to people who want them and they said they wanted proof so PLEASE draw on my face!"

"Alright, alright!" I laughed and drew my scar on her face with silver everlasting ink.

The Gryffindors, however, were using the article as another chance to make me look stupid, even if it never worked.

"A thousand boyfriends, huh Shelby?" Brown leered at me. "I've only ever seen you with three boys ever and only one has been your boyfriend…unless you want to count Crabbe and Goyle…"

I shook my head haughtily.

"Just because I don't snog boys in front of YOUR ugly face, Brown, doesn't mean I haven't had boyfriends…"

She frowned and I went off to talk with Draco again.

Draco was also receiving a bit of admiration and hassle. Although the hassles were mainly from Blaise, who was ignoring Astoria a lot.

"How he got with the best-looking girl in the year, I'll never know," a good-looking Ravenclaw boy was saying to his friend as I passed them one day. "I mean, everyone knows that she likes high-profile guys best…"

Blaise was saying more of the nasty stuff.

"A KNOWN good-looking boy?" he ranted. "Barely anyone knows Draco because of his looks!"

"Yeah, everyone knows Draco because he's a prick," laughed Theo, gaining a reproachful look from Brooke.

"Oh, Blaise, you're just jealous," said Serena from behind her copy of Witch Weekly ("Best to know what the enemy is saying about boys and tomboys" she said). "You're just jealous because Astoria didn't mention you and you didn't get your name in the _Prophet_."

He glared at her.

"Shut up, Serena."

On the Saturday before the first task, all students in the third year and above were allowed to visit the village of Hogsmeade. I'd already told Sirius the date and he was going to meet me around the back of the Shrieking Shack.

Today, because I had it and because would probably need it, I took the Invisibility Cloak with me. It was inside my usual cloak, so no one would see it. I met up with Draco, Blaise, Serena, Lucifer, Brooke and Theo and we went into Hogsmeade together.

I watched other students walking past us as we entered the village, most of them sporting Support Cedric Diggory badges. Our group of friends went straight to the Three Broomsticks, all of us eager for a warm drink. The Three Broomsticks was packed, mainly with Hogwarts students enjoying their free afternoon, but also with a variety of magical people I rarely saw anywhere else. I supposed that as Hogsmeade was the only all-wizard village in Britain, it was a bit of a haven for creatures like hags, who were not as adept as wizards at disguising themselves.

I saw Granger (who had been released from the hospital wing the same day as she had grown the teeth) enter with Harry and Weasley trailing along behind her.

"Do those three ever go anywhere without each other," said Brooke as they sat five tables away from us. "I thought we were bad, but they're like, joined at the hip."

I snorted. "Of course they are. See, Granger is like the mummy loser, Harry is the daddy loser and ickle Weasel-toes is the bubba loser!"

"You don't think that maybe you just hate them because they're Gryffindors?" She asked me. I really liked Brooke but she really was too nice to be a Slytherin. She was a very concerned friend.

"Of course not!" Serena scoffed. "We hate them because they're losers!"

"Oi, Shell!" said Draco. "Look behind you."

I turned my head and saw that Rita Skeeter and her photographer friend had just emerged into the Three Broomsticks. Talking in low voices, they passed right by Granger, Weasley and Harry without noticing them. When they were gone, Theo said, "She's staying in the village. I bet she's coming to watch the first task."

As he said it, I experienced a tiny flutter of anticipation and nervousness. I didn't mention this; no one needed to know that I could experience any kind of panic. I needed to pretend to be brave and strong for this so that I could actually be brave and strong for this.

"She's gone," said Brooke. "By the way, did we remember to congratulate you on your manipulation of that interview?" That was Brooke's Slytherin side; the almost malicious love of attention and extreme pride and smugness. That also happened to be my Slytherin side so I answered, with a smirk on my face "Of course you did!"

I stood up to go buy the drinks and Serena stood up too. On our way through the pub, Serena spotted FAG and went off to sit with them for a bit. They waved at her and then over at me, so I returned the wave and continued walking to the bar.

I ordered the drinks and slipped back through the pub to my seat.

"Serena went to sit with FAG," I told everyone. "Looked like they were plotting something again."

"When aren't they," Lucifer mumbled.

"You know, I passed by them the other day in the library," said Blaise. "They were going on about how to get to the Sorting Hat for some reason…"

Brooke groaned.

"Why do I get the feeling that something annoying is going to happen?" she said.

"Because we're talking about Serena," Theo replied grimly.

"That's true," said Draco.

We all chatted happily (although maybe not Lucifer, who never really chatted at all). I looked around at everyone else in the pub when the conversation lulled. All of them looked cheerful and relaxed. Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbot were swapping Chocolate Frog cards at a nearby table; both of them sporting Support Cedric Diggory badges on their cloaks.

Right over by the door I saw Cho Chang and a large group of her Ravenclaw friends. She wasn't wearing a Cedric badge though…this was an encouraging sign at this stage.

Finally, the subject of the first task came up.

"What do you reckon you'll be doing?" Theo asked.

Serena, who had joined us again when Madam Rosmerta (the barmaid and landlady of the pub) had come with our drinks, squealed girlily.

"Maybe it'll be a troll! WAIT no-no-no! It'll be a MOUNTAIN TROLL! WAIT, NO! A MOUNTAIN TROLL THAT IS HIGH ON WAR-MUSHROOMS AND FROG POISON AND WHO IS ARMED WITH A MACE!"

Everyone gaped at her, mouths open and then burst out laughing. She frowned.

"What? I'm just getting into the spirit!"

I drifted off, wondering how the other champions were feeling. Every time I had seen Cedric lately, he had been surrounded by admirers and looking nervous but excited. I glimpsed Benjamin Lecroix from time to time in the corridors; he looked exactly as he always did, haughty and unruffled, mostly with his face screwed to Fleur Delacour's, though. And Krum just sat in the library, poring over books.

I thought of Sirius, and felt happy. I would be speaking to him in about an hour, when we met by the Shrieking Shack - assuming nothing went wrong, though.

I was interrupted from my thoughts when I noticed Hagrid trying to get through the crowd to my brother and his friends.

The back of Hagrid's enormous shaggy head emerged over the crowd. I stood up to see what he was doing and noticed that Hagrid had been leaning low, talking to Professor Moody. He had his usual enormous tankard in front of him, but Moody was drinking from his hip flask.

Madam Rosmerta didn't seem to think much of this; she was looking askance at Moody as she collected glasses from tables around them. Perhaps she thought it was an insult to her mulled mead, but I knew better. Moody had told us all during their last Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson that he preferred to prepare his own food and drink at all times, as it was so easy for Dark wizards to poison an unattended cup.

As I watched, I saw Hagrid and Moody get up to leave. Harry stood up and waved them over. Moody paused, his magical eye on the corner where Harry was standing. He tapped Hagrid in the small of the back (being unable to reach his shoulder), muttered something to him, and then the pair of them made their way back across the pub toward Harry's table.

As the five at the table began to talk, I slipped the cloak out and put it on, tapping the side of my nose to my friends. They, who realised what I was doing, all smiled conspiratorially as I walked towards them.

Hagrid was beaming down at Harry. He bent down and said in a whisper so low that only Harry and I could hear it, "Harry, meet me tonight at midnight at me cabin. We have to show you something for the Tournament. Wear the cloak."

Straightening up, Hagrid said loudly, "Nice ter see yeh, Harry, Hermione, Ron," winked, and departed. Moody followed him, although I noticed him glaring significantly at the exact spot that I stood on.

"Why does Hagrid want me to meet him at midnight?" Harry said, very surprised.

"Does he?" said Hermione, looking startled. "I wonder what he's up to? I don't know whether you should go, Harry…" She looked nervously around and hissed, "It might make you late for Sirius."

My ears perked up at that. Was Sirius going to be talking to Harry too?

After lunch-time, I walked out to the Shrieking Shack alone to meet Sirius. I spotted him standing behind the building and hurried to meet him. He saw me and held out his arms, which I ran into, laughing.

"Ah, Shelby!" he said happily. "It is so good to see you again!"

I smiled and pulled away from my godfather, punching him in the stomach.

"OW! What was that for?"

"Why the hell would you give both the Marauder's Map AND my dad's Invisibility Cloak? WHY? What would Harry do with them? Harry is _such _a girl!"

Sirius smiled and gave me another hug.

"That's why I felt I had to give it to him," he said. "With him being such a girl, he needed something to make him into a man. But I guess he just couldn't be as much like your father as you are…"

"Oh! Sirius, that is the most touching thing you've ever said to me!" I said, holding my hands against my chest.

He grinned wolfishly and winked.

"You're welcome, Shell. Ooh, by the way, I bought you something in Hogsmeade while you were eating…" he said, thrusting a heavy brown paper bag into my arms.

I looked inside and squealed.

"HONEYDUKES CHOCOLATE!"

"That's right!"

"Ooh, Sirius! I take back that punch in the gut!"

"Don't even mention it! But you can eat that later, first let's talk about you being in the tournament and then practise Animagus transformation magic…"

I sat down cross-legged on the floor and he copied me.

"What do you want to know?"

Sirius exhaled and then spoke.

"You wrote to me saying that Moody thinks someone wants to kill you. But you disagree. You had a very realistic dream that says otherwise…"

"That's right," I replied.

"Tell me about this…dream."

I told him all about the dream.

"Well…that isn't the kind of dream one usually has…I think you may have a link with Voldemort…"

"Actually, I don't," I said. "I have a link with Harry… I think he has a link with Voldemort and he was hearing those voices while I listened in."

Sirius stared at me in a calculating way.

"How many people know about this link you have with Harry?" he asked.

"Serena Dyob and Draco Malfoy are the only people that know the finer workings of it. I know what you're going to say, Sirius," I added, interrupting the rant that I knew he was about to enter into. "But Draco and Serena are not their parents. They are decent and they've supported me all through the past four years at Hogwarts."

"But you told me that Serena has found another best friend now…she could decide to release the secret," he warned me. I smiled.

"Brooke Camydac is a nice person. I don't even know how she was made a Slytherin, really…"

"Yes, Shelby, that may be true, but you can't trust anyone. ANYONE. Anyone. You understand?"

"Yes, I find it impossible to misunderstand something when you use repetition on me."

Sirius smiled.

"You know, I was slightly worried when you were made a Slytherin- Okay! I was very worried- because I thought that it would make you different, more evil…but I guess that it really just enhanced your resemblance to James…"

"Aww! You're on a roll today, Sirius!"

"Yes, I know! But, anyway, I guess that my big speech is lost now. What we have to worry about isn't how you're going to get through these tasks so much as what might happen after the tasks…"

"If Voldemort wants me to join him, what should I do, Sirius?"

"You should do whatever your instincts tell you…but if you are scared, just know that Dumbledore may benefit from a second spy amongst the Death Eaters…"

"Who's the first spy?" I asked.

Sirius grimaced.

"You should be able to figure it out," he said and I immediately thought 'Snape'. "Now, for your Animagus…just stay sitting like this…"

He stood up while I sat; he cast spells on me as I meditated upon my character. I just breathed and relaxed as Sirius did his magic, thinking about who I was, what it meant to be me and what could sum up my whole character…

Suddenly, I felt a surge of blood in my veins and then, for an instant, I didn't exist. But then I did again and I was all different. When I opened my eyes, I saw in different colours to normal and my body felt heavier and…strange…

I had to turn my head to look at Sirius, who walked up to me slowly and put his hand on my face, rubbing my head. It felt great, better than any other feeling I had ever experienced.

"Shelby," he said, still rubbing my head. "You're a horse…"

I shook my head and walked over to a small river that was running nearby. I peered over the edge and was satisfied.

I was a large, beautiful chestnut mare. My pelt was covered in hairs that were the exact same colour as my human hair- dark, vibrant red. I had long white socks on my forelegs, a white stripe on the front of my face and my mane and tail had golden threads running through them. I turned my head. There, imprinted on my cheek, was the silver-white outline of a heart, bright against the dark colour of my hair.

I snorted happily. A horse for pride. Horses were proud animals. I was a very proud girl.

The river was deep enough for me to swim in, so I gave a whinny and jumped crashing into the water. As I jumped, I felt a tingling in my hind legs and then they felt powerful and strong. I dived under the water and found that I didn't need air- I could breathe under water.

I re-emerged in shock and looked at Sirius who laughed.

"Not a horse, apparently!" he said heartily. "You're a hippocampus!"

Ahhh, yes. The mythological half-horse half-fish of legend, that did as Poseidon commanded. They were said to be playful and gentle, but Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them said that they also had the same proud streak that any horse-like creature was possessed of and wouldn't hesitate to maim or even kill an offending being. I was now apart of a wonderful legend. Funny thing though- I had no idea how that was going to help me out in the months to come…

Snorting with happy horse-laughter, I morphed first into a horse and then into myself again and the laughter became human. I wasn't wet because the purple scales that had covered my tail would have blocked water from my skin, as would my new hairy skin. I walked out of the water and ruffled my hair. I went and hugged Sirius and then stepped back, smiling.

"I feel more and more like Dad by the day," I said. Sirius nodded with a sad glint in his eye.

"I've noticed," he said. "And your brother is like your mum." He gave me a look. "They couldn't stand each other, you know, when they first met. But they learned to live with it eventually. You were always Harry's rock when you were kids. It was you that he went to for comforting and help and advice…even now, in holidays, he goes to you more than me. You'll move on from this…Regulus and I hated each other and then he was killed for doing the right thing. I wish that we hadn't hated each other…"

Those words were heavy. He was telling me to accept Harry, even though he was a Gryffindor. For my godfather, I could do that. He seemed to wake up a bit.

"Well, I'd best be off, Shell. I'm meeting Harry in the fire at one in the morning, and I'm going to need to do some stuff before-hand. By the way, Kreacher has been moping without you…he misses you. Harry, not so much, but there you have it. I'll get back to you later with the stuff about the other champions, alright? And, remember, just because someone wants you to win the tournament, doesn't mean you shouldn't try to. It'll probably make you safer than anyone else if you join Voldemort…I'll miss you Shell."

"Bye Sirius…" I said. Then we left each other.

At half past eleven that evening, I snuck into the Gryffindor common room. Harry, who had obviously pretended to go up to bed early, was looking around for his Cloak when I reached his dormitory.

"Well, well, well. Looking for your stolen treasure, are we, Harry?" I said dramatically, pulling the Cloak off. He jumped and turned to face me in shock.

"What do you want, Shelby? Why are you here? How did you get here?" he said. Then he looked at my hands. "And why do YOU have the Cloak?"

I shrugged and then walked over to him.

"I'm coming with you to Hagrid's," I said plainly, sitting down on his bed. "You Gryffindors have such delightful furnishings up here, by the way…"

"Get out, Shelby!" Harry said, pointing at the door. I shrugged.

"You don't want to know how I know you're meeting Hagrid?" I said innocently, giving him puppy-dog eyes. He faltered.

"Yes…" he replied. "How do you know about that?"

I held out the Cloak.

"Not telling," I chanted, smirking the way that Draco taught me. "I need to come because I know he knows something about the Tournament and I need to survive the Tournament, and I can actually do a better job of that if I know what's coming. Come on, Harry! You are my twin brother…or do you want me to die?" I finished, sniffing dramatically.

Harry shifted uncomfortably on his feet for a second before sighing.

"Alright," he said. "But I hope you realise that you won't be replacing Hermione and Ron any time soon…"

"Aww, why so uptight, bro? You used to adore me, just like all of my lovely friends!"

He snorted.

"We're past that, Shelby. Apparently, you're better than that now…"

I shrugged.

"Whatever," I said, coming up close to him and throwing the Cloak over both of us. "Let's go see Hagrid. Oh, and by the way, Harry, no one can know that I am with you…"

Quite a few people were still in the Gryffindor Common Room. The Creevey brothers had managed to get hold of a stack of Support Cedric Diggory badges and were trying to bewitch them to make them say POTTER REALLY STINKS instead.

So far, however, all they had managed to do was get the badges stuck on Support Cedric Diggory. Harry and I crept past them to the portrait hole and waited for a minute or so, while he kept an eye on his watch. Then Granger opened the Fat Lady for him from outside as they had apparently planned. We slipped past her and he whispered "Thanks!" and we set off through the castle.

The grounds were very dark. Harry and I walked down the lawn toward the lights shining in Hagrid's cabin. The inside of the enormous Beauxbatons carriage was also lit up; I could hear Madame Maxime talking inside it as Harry knocked on Hagrid's front door.

"You there, Harry?" Hagrid whispered, opening the door and looking around.

"Yeah," said Harry, slipping both of us inside the cabin and pulling the cloak down off his head, being careful to leave me underneath while he pretended to hold it. "What's up?"

"Got summat ter show yeh," said Hagrid.

There was an air of enormous excitement about Hagrid.

He was wearing a flower that resembled an oversized artichoke in his buttonhole. It looked as though he had certainly attempted to comb his hair - I could see the comb's broken teeth tangled in it.

"What're you showing me?" Harry said warily, no doubt bearing Hagrid's fascination with dangerous but amazing creatures in mind.

"Come with me, keep quiet, an' keep yerself covered with that cloak," said Hagrid. "We won' take Fang, he won' like it…

"Listen, Hagrid, I can't stay long… I've got to be back up at the castle by one o'clock -"

But Hagrid wasn't listening; he was opening the cabin door and striding off into the night. Harry quickly pulled the Cloak back over his head and he and I hurried to follow and found, to our great surprise, that Hagrid was leading us to the Beauxbatons carriage.

"Hagrid, what -?"

"Shhh!" said Hagrid, and he knocked three times on the door bearing the crossed golden wands.

Madame Maxime opened it. She was wearing a silk shawl wrapped around her massive shoulders. She smiled when she saw Hagrid.

"Ah, 'Agrid… it is time?"

"Bong-sewer," said Hagrid, beaming at her, and holding out a hand to help her down the golden steps.

Madame Maxime closed the door behind her, Hagrid offered her his arm, and they set off around the edge of the paddock containing Madame Maxime's giant winged horses, with Harry and I, totally bewildered, running to keep up with them. Had Hagrid wanted to show Harry Madame Maxime? He could see her any old time he wanted… she wasn't exactly hard to miss… But it seemed that Madame Maxime was in for the same treat as Harry (and me), because after a while she said playfully, "Wair is it you are taking me, 'Agrid?"

"Yeh'll enjoy this," said Hagrid gruffly, "worth seein', trust me. On'y - don' go tellin' anyone I showed yeh, right? Yeh're not s'posed ter know."

"Of course not," said Madame Maxime, fluttering her long black eyelashes.

And still we walked, Harry and me getting more and more irritated as we jogged along in the tall people's wake, Harry checking his watch every now and then. Hagrid had some harebrained scheme in hand, which might make him miss Sirius (I was starting to think that I knew everything). If we didn't get there soon, he was probably going to turn around, go straight back to the castle, and leave Hagrid to enjoy his moonlit stroll with Madame Maxime, dragging me along with him. He did rather like conversing with Sirius, I knew that.

But then - when we had walked so far around the perimeter of the forest that the castle and the lake were out of sight - I heard something. Men were shouting up ahead… then there came a deafening, ear-splitting roar… Hagrid led Madame Maxime around a clump of trees and came to a halt. Harry and I hurried up alongside them - for a split second, I thought I was seeing bonfires, and men darting around them - and then my mouth fell open.

Dragons. Four fully grown, enormous, vicious-looking dragons were rearing onto their hind legs inside an enclosure fenced with thick planks of wood, roaring and snorting. Torrents of fire were shooting into the dark sky from their open, fanged mouths, fifty feet above the ground on their outstretched necks.

There was a silvery-blue one with long, pointed horns, snapping and snarling at the wizards on the ground; a smooth-scaled green one, which was writhing and stamping with all its might; a red one with an odd fringe of fine gold spikes around its face, which was shooting mushroom-shaped fire clouds into the air; and a gigantic black one, more lizard-like than the others, which was nearest to them.

At least thirty wizards, seven or eight to each dragon, were attempting to control them, pulling on the chains connected to heavy leather straps around their necks and legs. Mesmerized, I looked up, high above me, and saw the eyes of the black dragon, with vertical pupils like a cat's, bulging with either fear or rage, I couldn't tell which… It was making a horrible noise, a yowling, screeching scream.

"Keep back there, Hagrid!" yelled a wizard near the fence, straining on the chain he was holding. "They can shoot fire at a range of twenty feet, you know! I've seen this Horntail do forty!"

"Is'n' it beautiful?" said Hagrid softly.

"It's no good!" yelled another wizard. "Stunning Spells, on the count of three!"

Each of the dragon keepers pulled out their wands.

"Stupefy!" they shouted in unison, and the Stunning Spells shot into the darkness like fiery rockets, bursting in showers of stars on the dragons' scaly hides.

The dragon nearest to us teetered dangerously on its back legs; its jaws stretched wide in a silent howl; its nostrils were suddenly devoid of flame, though still smoking - then, very slowly, it fell. Several tons of sinewy, scaly, black dragon hit the ground with a thud that I could have sworn made the trees behind him quake.

The dragon keepers lowered their wands and walked forward to their fallen charges, each of which was the size of a small hill. They hurried to tighten the chains and fasten them securely to iron pegs, which they forced deep into the ground with their wands.

"Wan' a closer look?" Hagrid asked Madame Maxime excitedly. The pair of them moved right up to the fence, and Harry followed. The wizard who had warned Hagrid not to come any closer turned, and I realized who it was: Charlie Weasley. He was the second-eldest Weasley brother, who usually worked over in Romania with the dragons… I had met him when Sirius had taken us to the Quidditch World Cup with the Weasleys.

"All right, Hagrid?" he panted, coming over to talk. "They should be okay now - we put them out with a Sleeping Draft on the way here, thought it might be better for them to wake up in the dark and the quiet - but, like you saw, they weren't happy, not happy at all -"

"What breeds you got here, Charlie?" said Hagrid, gazing at the closest dragon, the black one, with something chose to reverence. Its eyes were still just open. I could see a strip of gleaming yellow beneath its wrinkled black eyelid.

"This is a Hungarian Horntail," said Charlie. "There's a Common Welsh Green over there, the smaller one — a Swedish Short-Snout, that blue-gray — and a Chinese Fireball, that's the red."

Charlie looked around; Madame Maxime was strolling away around the edge of the enclosure, gazing at the stunned dragons.

"I didn't know you were bringing her, Hagrid," Charlie said, frowning. "The champions aren't supposed to know what's coming - she's bound to tell her student, isn't she?"

"Jus' thought she'd like ter see 'em," shrugged Hagrid, still gazing, enraptured, at the dragons.

"Really romantic date, Hagrid," said Charlie, shaking his head.

"Four…" said Hagrid, "so it's one fer each o' the champions, is it? What've they gotta do - fight 'em?"

"Just get past them, I think," said Charlie. "We'll be on hand if it gets nasty, Extinguishing Spells at the ready. They wanted nesting mothers, I don't know why… but I tell you this, I don't envy the one who gets the Horntail. Vicious thing. Its back end's as dangerous as its front, look."

Charlie pointed toward the Horntail's tail, and Harry saw long, bronze-colored spikes protruding along it every few inches.

For some reason, I got the feeling that I would be facing this dragon.

Five of Charlie's fellow keepers staggered up to the Horntail at that moment, carrying a clutch of huge granite-gray eggs between them in a blanket. They placed them carefully at the Horntail's side. Hagrid let out a moan of longing.

"I've got them counted, Hagrid," said Charlie sternly. Then he said, "How're the twins?"

"Fine," said Hagrid. He was still gazing at the eggs.

"Just hope Shelby's still fine after she's faced this lot," said Charlie grimly, looking out over the dragons' enclosure. "I didn't dare tell Mum what she's got to do for the first task; she's already having kittens about her… and Harry, for some reason…" Charlie imitated his mother's voice.

"How could they let her enter that tournament, she's much too young! I thought they were all safe, I thought there was going to be an age limit! She had a change of heart, though, after that Daily Prophet article about her. 'Those dealings with You-Know-Who turned her funny if you ask me! Fancy her being thankful for her life when so many of us are wasting our energy feeling sorry for her! Poor Harry, having to put up with her, he's just such a sweet, sensitive boy! He's her complete opposite!'"

I had had enough. Trusting to the fact that Hagrid wouldn't miss Harry, with the attractions of four dragons and Madame Maxime to occupy him, I turned to Harry silently and gestured to the castle. When he nodded, we began to walk away, back to the castle.

I was very glad with my findings. This way was better. The first shock of seeing the dragons was over now. Maybe if I'd seen the dragons for the first time on Tuesday, I would have passed out cold in front of the whole school… it wouldn't have been good for my image. I knew this would be fairly easy if I find a way to do this. The only question now was how was I going to do this?

Harry and I sped up, skirting the edge of the forest; Harry had just under fifteen minutes to get back to the fireside and talk to Sirius, and I knew he couldn't remember, ever, wanting to talk to someone more than he did right now (it seemed that Harry was going through some crap…I'd have to snoop in his mind later) — when, without warning, we both ran into something very solid.

We fell backward, Harry's glasses askew, clutching the cloak around us. A voice nearby said, "Ouch! Who's there?"

Harry hastily checked that the cloak was covering him and we both lay very still, me rolling my eyes at his panic and staring up at the dark outline of the wizard we had hit. I recognized the goatee… it was Karkaroff.

"Who's there?" said Karkaroff again, very suspiciously, looking around in the darkness. We remained still and silent. After a minute or so, Karkaroff seemed to decide that he had hit some sort of animal; he was looking around at waist height, as though expecting to see a dog. Then he crept back under the cover of the trees and started to edge forward toward the place where the dragons were.

Very slowly and very carefully, Harry got to his feet and looked at me. I threw the Cloak off. Now I was going to use my Animagus form, as the alliance with Harry had been somewhat annoying. I nodded at him and he set off again as fast as he could without making too much noise, hurrying through the darkness back toward Hogwarts.

I was now alone. I made the change into my hippocampus-disguised-as-a-normal-horse form.

I had no doubt whatsoever what Karkaroff was up to. He had sneaked off his ship to try and find out what the first task was going to be. He might even have spotted Hagrid and Madame Maxime heading off around the forest together – they were hardly difficult to spot at a distance… and now all Karkaroff had to do was follow the sound of voices, and he, like Madame Maxime, would know what was in store for the champions.

Now fully changed, I snorted once and then began the long trot back to Hogwarts, down to the Slytherin dungeons…

By the looks of it, the only champion who would be facing the unknown on Tuesday was Cedric.


	7. Task

-The Unsuspected Evil Butterfly-

Shelby Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Chapter Seven- Task

I strode into the Slytherin common room (just having transformed from hippocampus-horse form in order to access the magical password wall) to see Brooke, Theo, Blaise, Serena, Lucifer and Draco sitting in front of the fire playing Exploding Snap, waiting for me.

They all turned to look at me when they heard my footsteps.

"How did it go?" Serena asked me non-chalantly. "What kind of freaky monster are you facing?"

"Dragons," I said excitedly. "Dragons are the first task."

"No way," Brooke said. "They're really going all out on this tournament…"

"And this is just the first task…" Lucifer murmured gloomily. Serena nodded at him.

I sat back against the couch and wondered. Imagine if Harry had been chosen for this tournament by Voldemort…his friends would probably freak out. From what I knew about Weasley, he would get jealous of Harry's fame and glory. Granger would run around looking for spells Harry could use and reading up about everything dangerous in every book that she could get her hands on.

My friends, however, were all excited about the glory involved, the challenge of the tasks and the possibility of my winning. I didn't tell any of them about my latest dream, though. They didn't need to be all freaked out by Voldemort.

"Well, we have to get thinking!" said Serena. "Oooh! You know how you're a really fast learner, Shell?"

I nodded, acknowledging my awesomeness.

"Well, what if you learned a-"

"A Conjunctivitis Curse and a Disillusionment Charm!" I finished. "You are a genius!"

"Thank you!" Serena gloated.

"You do realise that she's talking to herself, don't you?" Draco asked her, making her look disappointed.

"So, what I am going to do is blur the dragon's vision and then Disillusion myself! It's perfect! Normally, dragons have such perfect sight that they would be able to see me if I was Disillusioned, but with blurred vision, they won't be able to make out my outline!"

"That's a great idea, Shelby!" said Brooke, smiling. "I should have thought of it…"

"Yeah, I bet Diggory, Krum and Lecroix won't think of it!" Blaise enthused, taking my hand.

"Definitely not," Theo said. "There is no chance of Diggory being smart enough to think of something like that. He'll probably take one look at the dragon, shit his pants and turn a rock into a puppy in panic."

"Actually, speaking of Diggory," I said. "He's the only champion that doesn't know what's coming. It's really not fair…"

Everyone gasped.

"You're doing things…" Serena said, dropping her voice and adding. "The _Gryffindor Way_!"

The group collectively shuddered.

"Yeah, Shelby," said Draco. "You're a Slytherin! There has to be something in it for you!"

I smirked.

"Oh, there's something in it for me…like a hottie that owes me…"

Serena, Brooke and Theo sniggered while Draco and Blaise frowned.

"He's not that good-looking…" Blaise muttered.

"Tell me about it…" Draco growled.

The other three and I exchanged rolled eyes. Lucifer just stared into the fire.

"No, but seriously," I said. "I'm going to tell him."

"Why?" Brooke asked. "What's the use in doing something so-" she lowered her voice- "_Gryffindor_?"

"Well, I might need it later…like, if I get stuck on the second task and he finds out what it is…or if I break up with Blaise and need some comfort…"

"Well, that _is _always useful. I'm tired now. Can we go to bed, Theo?"

"Sure, Brooke."

And Theo and Brooke got up and went into the boy's dorm.

I glanced at Serena, who shrugged.

"I told her about how we sleep in there. You know…with our secret stash of pyjamas and toothbrushes and stuff. When we sneak out after Pansy and Daphne are asleep? You remember that?"

"Yes, Serena, I was sleeping there most of last week!"

"Yeah, she moved in while you were gone."

"Oh."

The next morning, I saw Cedric at breakfast and stood up quickly to follow him before he left the Hall.

"Cedric!" I called, waving my hands to catch his attention.

He turned and smiled when he saw me.

"Oh, hey Shelby! I'm just off to Charms, I'm hoping that I'll learn something before the first task this Tuesday…"

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that," I said, ushering him out into the corridor outside.

"What's up, Shelby?" he asked with concern in his voice. I ruffled my hair.

"Look, I know what the First Task is, Cedric. It's dragons."

"What?" said Cedric, looking up.

"Dragons," I said, speaking quickly, to try to prevent lateness to class. "They've got four, one for each of us, and we've got to get past them."

Cedric stared at me. I saw panic flickering in his gorgeous gray eyes.

"Are you sure?" Cedric said in a hushed voice.

"Of course I'm sure," I scoffed. "Would I tell you if I wasn't sure? I've seen them."

"But how did you find out? We're not supposed to know…"

"Never mind, Cedric" I said exasperatedly - Hagrid would be in trouble if I told the truth. Draco could hate Hagrid as much as he wanted, but the fact remained that Hagrid had known and liked Sirius and my father. "Anyway, I'm not the only one who knows. Lecroix and Krum will know by now - Maxime and Karkaroff both saw the dragons too."

Cedric straightened up a little. He stared at me, and there was a puzzled, almost suspicious look in his eyes. Although, of course, it was incredibly smart of him to not trust me…

"Why are you telling me?" he asked.

I looked at him in mock disbelief. I was sure Cedric wouldn't have asked that if he had seen the dragons himself. However, I knew that I would have let him face the dragons unprepared if there hadn't been anything in it for me, so I had to work to look upset at the accusation.

"That's not fair, Ced…" I said to Cedric. "I thought that you should know…everyone else does… we're on an even footing, aren't we?"

Cedric was still looking at me in a slightly suspicious way, but then he stared at me as though he was contemplating me deeply and then grinned, putting his arms around me for a brief hug. He ruffled my hair in that cute way that he had.

"You're the best, Shell!" he said happily, and then scooted off to Charms.

At this point, as I was standing in the middle of the corridor, I heard a familiar clunking noise behind him. He turned around and saw Mad-Eye Moody emerging from a nearby classroom.

"Come with me, Miss Potter," he growled.

I stared apprehensively at Moody. I had a suspicion that he had overheard us.

"Yeah, Professor, I'm supposed to be going to Transfiguration right now…"

"Never mind that, Miss Potter. In my office, please…"

I followed him, wondering what was going on. What if Moody wanted to know how I'd found out about the dragons? Would Moody go to Dumbledore and tell on Hagrid, or just turn me into a ferret, like he had done when Draco had immorally attacked Harry when his back was turned? That was something I didn't like about Moody- he was unpredictable.

I followed Moody into his office. He closed the door behind us and turned to look at me, his magical eye fixed upon me as well as the normal one.

"That was a very decent thing you just did, Miss Potter," he said quietly.

This wasn't the really the reaction I had expected, but it was plausible. I knew that Moody did have some ethics, after he had transfigured Draco for being immoral.

"Sit down," he said, and I sat, looking around.

I had visited this office under two of its previous occupants. Professor Lockhart had covered the walls with beaming, winking pictures of himself. When Lupin had lived here, I was more likely to come across a specimen of some fascinating new Dark creature he had procured for our Defence Against the Dark Arts class to study. Now, however, the office was full of a number of exceptionally odd objects that I supposed Moody had used in the days when he had been an Auror.

On his desk stood what looked hike a large, cracked, glass spinning top; I recognized it at once as a Sneakoscope, because Serena owned one, although it was smaller. In the corner on a small table stood an object that looked something like an extra-squiggly, golden television aerial. It was humming slightly. What appeared to be a mirror hung opposite me on the wall, but it was not reflecting the room. Shadowy figures were moving around inside it, none of them clearly in focus.

"Like my Dark Detectors, do you?" said Moody, who was watching me closely.

"What's that?" I asked eagerly, pointing at the squiggly golden aerial.

"Secrecy Sensor. Vibrates when it detects concealment and lies… no use here, of course, too much interference - students in every direction lying about why they haven't done their homework. Been humming ever since I got here. I had to disable my Sneakoscope because it wouldn't stop whistling. It's extra-sensitive, picks up stuff about a mile around. Of course, it could be picking up more than kid stuff," he added in a growl.

"And what's the mirror for?"

"Oh that's my Foe-Glass. See them out there, skulking around? I'm not really in trouble until I see the whites of their eyes. That's when I open my trunk."

He let out a short, harsh laugh, and pointed to the large trunk under the window. It had seven keyholes in a row. I wondered what was in there, until Moody's next question brought me sharply back to earth.

"So… found out about the dragons, have you?"

I had expected this - but I hadn't told Cedric, and I certainly wasn't going to tell Moody, that Hagrid had broken the rules.

"It's all right," said Moody, sitting down and stretching out his wooden leg with a groan. "Cheating's a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and always has been."

"I didn't cheat," I said sharply. "It was – oh, why even bother? You were right there, you probably know all about it. You'll have seen through my Cloak. You'll know everything."

Moody grinned. "That I do, Missie. It is a marvellous Cloak, by the way. I've been telling Dumbledore from the start, he can be as high-minded as he likes, but you can bet old Karkaroff and Maxime won't be. They'll have told their champions everything they can. They want to win. They want to beat Dumbledore. They'd like to prove he's only human."

Moody gave another harsh laugh, and his magical eye swiveled around so fast it looked like a whirl.

"So… got any ideas how you're going to get past your dragon yet?" said Moody.

This time I grinned.

"I've figured the whole thing out," I said smugly. "Now I just need to practise the spells…"

Moody grunted.

"I don't show favouritism, me," he said gruffly. "I'm just going to give you some good, general advice. And the first bit is – play to your strengths."

"No, seriously," I interrupted. "I'm fine. I play to my strengths and everything…"

"That's right," said Moody, staring at me very hard, his magical eye barely moving at all. "That is your greatest strength, from what I've heard. Organisation and cleverness. Oh, and sneaking. I've heard that you're amazing at sneaking…"

"To be fair" I said staring at him. "It's always paid off for me…"

"Well, then," said Moody. "It seems that you don't really need me at all then."

I looked at him blankly. Why did Moody care?

"No. No I don't…" I said suspiciously.

Moody waved me off towards the door.

"Get on, then. Look, here's a note to Professor McGonagall, excusing your lateness."

I nodded and left the room.

"Draco," I said when I got to Transfiguration.

"What's up, Shell?" he asked.

"Can you help me drill for the tournament?"

"Of course I can…"

At two o'clock in the morning, I stood near the fireplace, Draco in front of me. I was practising the Conjunctivitis Curse on him, although he was on a potion that I stole from the hospital wing that kept the pain away. Only in the last hour had I really the curse.

"Okay, I can't see," Draco said, looking exhausted but very pleased. "So I know that this is working perfectly."

"Of course it's working perfectly," I said, flourishing my wand a bit. "But this IS the longest I've ever taken to perfect a spell…" I raised my wand once more and said the incantation. Draco's eyes clouded over and he fluttered his eyelids desperately.

"Okay, that hurts now!" he whined.

"Just as long as it works tomorrow," I said. "The dragon's going to be much farther away from me than you are- or at least I hope it will…"

"That doesn't matter," said Draco firmly. "When it comes to you, once you learn a spell, it works every time afterwards."

I smiled at my best friend.

"Thanks Draco. You're the best…"

"I know I am," he said smugly. "But now, we have to finally teach you the Disillusionment Charm…"

I had been focusing so hard on magic that evening that I was able to perform that spell perfectly after a few tries. After that, Draco and I went to bed.

The next morning, I was very hyped up and excited. The atmosphere in the school was one of great tension and excitement. Lessons were to stop at midday, giving all the students time to get down to the dragons' enclosure - though of course, they didn't yet know what they would find there.

I smiled excitedly as everyone around me wished me good luck or hissed "What kind of coffin would you like, I'll tell Harry," as she passed- that was mostly Brown and Patil.

Time was behaving in a more peculiar fashion than ever, rushing past in great dollops, so that one moment I seemed to be sitting down in my first lesson, Charms, and the next, walking into lunch… and then Professor McGonagall was hurrying over to me in the Great Hall. Lots of people were watching.

"Miss Potter, the champions have to come down onto the grounds now… You have to get ready for your first task."

"Okay," I said, standing up. I was fairly satisfied with the way things were going thus far. I even looked great- I was wearing silver dragon-leather tights, shin-length lace-up boots and a long jacket of Slytherin green fire-proof cotton.

"Good luck, Shell," Serena whispered.

"You'll be fine!" Brooke encouraged me.

"Of course I will," I said, blowing Blaise a kiss.

I left the Great Hall with Professor McGonagall. She didn't seem herself. As she walked me down the stone steps and out into the cold November afternoon, she put her hand on my shoulder.

"Now, don't panic," she said, "just keep a cool head… We've got wizards standing by to control the situation if it gets out of hand… The main thing is just to do your best, and nobody will think any the worse of you… Are you all right?"

"Yes," I said. "I'm just fine."

She was leading me toward the place where the dragons were, around the edge of the forest, but when we approached the clump of trees behind which the enclosure would be clearly visible, I saw that a tent had been erected, its entrance facing us, screening the dragons from view.

"You're to go in here with the other champions," said Professor McGonagall, in a rather shaky sort of voice. "And wait for your turn, Miss Potter. Mr. Bagman is in there… he'll be telling you the - the procedure… Good luck."

"Thanks," I said in an enthusiastic voice. She left me at the entrance of the tent. I went inside.

Benjamin Lecroix was sitting in a corner on a low wooden stool. He didn't look nearly as composed or snooty as usual, but rather pale and clammy. Viktor Krum looked even surlier than usual, which I supposed was his way of showing nerves. He hadn't been at breakfast this morning. Cedric was pacing up and down. When I entered, he gave me a small smile, which I returned, noticing the worried way he was looking at me.

"Shelby! Good-o!" said Bagman happily, looking around at me. "Come in, come in, make yourself at home!"

Bagman looked very excited, even more excited than me. He was wearing his old Wimbourne Wasp robes (from the days when he was a Quidditch champion). "Well, now we're all here - time to fill you in!" he said brightly. "When the audience has assembled, I'm going to be offering each of you this bag" - he held up a small sack of purple silk and shook it at them - "from which you will each select a small model of the thing you are about to face! There are different - er - varieties, you see. And I have to tell you something else too… ah, yes… your task is to collect the golden egg!"

I glanced around. Cedric had nodded once, to show that he understood Bagman's words, and then started pacing around the tent again; he looked slightly green. Lecroix and Krum hadn't reacted at all. Perhaps they thought they might be sick if they opened their mouths.

And now that I really thought about it, I remembered that people who were probably older and clever than me had died in this tournament, because of just one slip-up. And I suddenly wanted to make up my differences with Harry again. Sirius was right- we couldn't just turn on each other because we were Sorted into opposite houses. We were family. We always were. I vowed that I would apologise to him after the tournament.

And in no time at all, hundreds upon hundreds of pairs of feet could be heard passing the tent, their owners talking excitedly, laughing, joking… And then Bagman was opening the neck of the purple silk sack.

"You first," he said, offering it to Benjamin Lecroix.

He put a shaking hand inside the bag and drew out a tiny, perfect model of a dragon - a Welsh Green. It had the number two around its neck And I knew, by the fact that Benjamin showed no sign of surprise, but rather a determined resignation, that I had been right: Madame Maxime had told him what was coming.

The same held true for Krum. He pulled out the scarlet Chinese Fireball. It had a number three around its neck. He didn't even blink, just sat back down and stared at the ground.

Cedric put his hand into the bag, and out came the blueish-gray Swedish Short-Snout, the number one tied around its neck. Knowing what was left I put my hand into the silk bag and pulled out the Hungarian Horntail, and the number four. It stretched its wings as I looked down at it, and bared its minuscule fangs.

An extra challenge. My lips curled at the thought. That had always been my style…

"Well, there you are!" said Bagman. "You have each pulled out the dragon you will face, and the numbers refer to the order in which you are to take on the dragons, do you see? Now, I'm going to have to leave you in a moment, because I'm commentating. Mr. Diggory, you're first, just go out into the enclosure when you hear a whistle, all right? Now… Shelby… could I have a quick word? Outside?"

"Sure," I said curiously, and I got up and went out of the tent with Bagman, who walked with me a short distance away, into the trees, and then turned to me with a fatherly expression on his face.

"Feeling all right, Shelby? Anything I can get you?"

"Nahhh…" I said. "I don't need anything."

"Got a plan?" said Bagman, lowering his voice conspiratorially. "Because I don't mind sharing a few pointers, if you'd like them, you know. I mean," Bagman continued, lowering his voice still further, "you're the underdog here, Shelby… Anything I can do to help…"

"No," I said so quickly I knew I had sounded rude, "No I know what I'm going to do, thankyou."

"Nobody would know, Shelby," said Bagman, winking at me.

"No, I'm fine," I said firmly. "I'm just wondering why you care, Mr Bagman. I'll stay alive, no problem, but even if that weren't the case, helping the champions is against the rules."

A whistle had blown somewhere.

"Good lord, I've got to run!" said Bagman in alarm, and he hurried off. I rolled my eyes. That was convenient for him.

I walked back to the tent and saw Cedric emerging from it, greener than ever.

"Good luck, Ced!" I called as I passed him. He looked like he wanted to say 'you too' but all that came out of his mouth was a sort of hoarse grunt.

I went back inside to Lecroix and Krum. Seconds later, we heard the roar of the crowd, which meant Cedric had entered the enclosure and was now face-to face with the living counterpart of his model.

It was worse than I could ever have imagined, sitting there and listening. The crowd screamed… yelled… gasped like a single many-headed entity, as Cedric did whatever he was doing to get past the Swedish Short-Snout. I wanted to be out there…Krum was still staring at the ground. Lecroix had now taken to retracing Cedric's steps, around and around the tent. And Bagman's commentary made everything much, much worse… Horribly glorious pictures formed in my mind as I heard: "Oooh, narrow miss there, very narrow"… "He's taking risks, this one!"… "Clever move - pity it didn't work!"

In short, I was so jealous of Cedric that I would have spewed just to go after him.

And then, after about fifteen minutes, I heard the deafening roar that could mean only one thing: Cedric had gotten past his dragon and captured the golden egg.

"Very good indeed!" Bagman was shouting. "And now the marks from the judges!"

But he didn't shout out the marks; I supposed the judges were holding them up and showing them to the crowd.

"One down, three to go!" Bagman yelled as the whistle blew again. "Mr Lecroix, if you please!"

Lecroix was trembling from head to foot; I felt more warmly toward him when he was being ration than I had done so far as he left the tent with his head held high and his hand clutching his wand. Krum and I were left alone, at opposite sides of the tent, avoiding each other's gaze.

The same process started again…"Oh I'm not sure that was wise!" we could hear Bagman shouting gleefully. "Oh… nearly! Careful now… good lord, I thought he'd had it then!"

Ten minutes later, the crowd erupt into applause once more… Lecroix must have been successful too. A pause, while Lecroix's marks were being shown… more clapping… then, for the third time, the whistle.

"And here comes Mr. Krum!" cried Bagman, and Krum slouched out, leaving me alone.

I felt much more aware of my body than usual; very aware of the way my heart was pumping fast, and my fingers tingling with adrenaline… yet at the same time, I seemed to be outside myself, seeing the walls of the tent, and hearing the crowd, as though from far away.

I was ready to win a task.

"Very daring!" Bagman was yelling, and I heard the Chinese Fireball emit a horrible, roaring shriek, while the crowd drew its collective breath. "That's some nerve he's showing - and - yes, he's got the egg!"

Applause shattered the wintery air like breaking glass; Krum had finished – it would be my turn any moment.

I stood up, noticing dimly that my legs seemed to be made of stone. I waited. And then I heard the whistle blow. I walked out through the entrance of the tent, the strength and calmness rising inside me. And now I was walking past the trees, through a gap in the enclosure fence.

I saw everything in front of me as though it was a very highly coloured dream.

There were hundreds and hundreds of faces staring down at me from stands that had been magicked there since I'd last stood on this spot. And there was the Horntail, at the other end of the enclosure, crouched low over her clutch of eggs, her wings half-furled, her evil, yellow eyes upon me, a monstrous, scaly, black lizard, thrashing her spiked tail, heaving yard-long gouge marks in the hard ground. The crowd was making a great deal of noise, but whether friendly or not, I didn't know or care. It was time to do what I had to do… to focus my mind, entirely and absolutely, upon this task.

I grinned at the dragon and withdrew my wand…I raised it to the dragon's eyes...

"Feculentia oculus," I said simply.

Acid yellow light shot from my wand, straight into the dragon's eyes. She roared and I smirked at her, putting a quick Shield Charm (I was very prepared) in case she put a foot wrong and smashed the other eggs.

The crowd was making even more noise… Bagman was shouting something… but listening wasn't important…

I smirked again and then directed my wand at myself.

"misceo aliocorpus," I said, rapping my wand on my head. I had the now familiar sensation of water running down my back and then watched as my body took on the colours of its surroundings.

As the crowd's faces became confused, I smiled. I was invisible to them. I was able to sneak… I was back where I belonged…

I looked over at the clutch of eggs and spotted the gold one, gleaming against its cement-coloured fellows, residing safely between the dragon's front legs.

"Okay," I told myself, "The egg is right there… let's go…"

I began to stroll towards the eggs. The Horntail's head was following me, purely by chance; I knew what it was going to do…I HAD pissed it off, after all. A jet of fire had been released exactly where I would have been had I not taken a step out of the way… but I didn't care… this was fairly easy.

"Great Scott, she's disappeared!" yelled Bagman as the crowd shrieked and gasped. "Are you even here, Miss Potter?"

I gave a tinkling laugh that I was sure most people could hear and then continued walking. Right then, however, my Conjunctivitis Curse wore off. The dragon gave a mighty, triumphant roar and she hissed. I knew she could see me now.

I plummeted behind a rock just as the Horntail opened its mouth, but this time I was only just lucky - I missed the flames. But when the tail came whipping up to meet me instead, and as I scrabbled to the left, one of the long spikes grazed my shoulder, ripping my robes.

I could feel it stinging, I could hear confused mutterings from the crowd, but the cut didn't seem to be deep… Now I got another brain-wave and grabbed the dragon's tail.

It took me right up to her lizard-like, ugly head. From there, I jumped off the tail and right near her ear. I could feel my Disillusionment Charm fading and heard screams from the crowd as they noticed where I was.

It was now time to see what Care of Magical Creatures was doing for me.

"Pigfarts, Pigfarts, yum, yum, yum. Pigfarts, Pigfarts, have some fun," I sang soothingly.

The dragon's head swayed this way and that as she heard the words…they obviously weren't the right ones, so I tried a different rhyme. A (shudder) muggle song.

"Rock-a-bye baby, on the treetop. When the wind blows, the cradle will rock. When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall and down will come baby, cradle and all…"

The Horntail's head rose a little in a sleepy fashion. I climbed around her face towards her eyes. She looked at me, but her eyelids were heavy…

"Come on," I hissed sweetly, patting her cheek, "come on, come and lower your head… go to sleep now…"

And then she gently lowered her massive head to the ground (as I hummed the tune to Lavender Blue), right beside the eggs now unprotected by their ferocious mother – and now I had slid slowly off the dragon's slumbering face and I lifted the golden egg for everyone to see.

As I clambered over the dragon's heavy leg, I felt incredibly relieved and it was as though somebody had just turned the volume back up - for the first time, I became properly aware of the noise of the crowd, which was screaming and applauding as loudly as the Irish supporters at the World Cup.

"Look at that!" Bagman was yelling. "Will you look at that! Our youngest champion is quickest to get her egg! Well, this is going to shorten the odds on Miss Potter!"

I saw the dragon keepers rushing forward to check on the Horntail, and, over at the entrance to the enclosure, Professor McGonagall, Professor Moody, and Hagrid were hurrying to meet me, all of them waving me toward them, their smiles evident even from this distance. I shrugged and walked over to them, the noise of the crowd pounding my eardrums. I felt smugger than I had been in weeks… I had got through the first task in the greatest of styles.

"That was excellent, Miss Potter!" cried Professor McGonagall as reached the group of educators - which from her was extravagant praise. I noticed that her hand shook as she pointed at my shoulder. "You'll need to see Madam Pomfrey before the judges give out your score… Over there, she's had to mop up Diggory already…"

"Yeh did it, Shelby!" said Hagrid hoarsely. "Yeh did it! An' agains' the Horntail an' all, Charlie Weasley said that was the wors' one… I have to find yeh brother now, he said he was worried 'bout yeh…"

"Thanks, Hagrid," I said loudly, so that Hagrid would hear me as he went away.

Professor Moody looked very pleased too; his magical eye was dancing in its socket.

"Nice and easy does the trick, Miss Potter," he growled.

"Right then, Miss Potter, the first aid tent, please…" said Professor McGonagall.

I walked out of the enclosure jauntily, and saw Madam Pomfrey standing at the mouth of a second tent, looking worried.

"Dragons!" she said, in a disgusted tone, pulling me inside. The tent was divided into cubicles; I could make out Cedric's shadow through the canvas, but Cedric didn't seem to be badly injured; he was sitting up, at least. Madam Pomfrey examined my shoulder, talking furiously all the while. "Last year dementors, this year dragons, what are they going to bring into this school next? You're very lucky… this is quite shallow… it'll need cleaning before I heal it up, though…"

She cleaned the cut with a dab of some purple liquid that smoked and stung, but then poked my shoulder with her wand, and I felt it heal instantly. "Now, just sit quietly for a minute - sit! And then you can go and get your score."

She bustled out of the tent and I heard her go next door and say, "How does it feel now, Diggory?"

I was glad to sit still: my adrenaline rush was gone. Just as I was wondering how in Merlin's name I had managed to stay calm even when I was riding through the air on a dragon's tail, seven people came darting inside – Lucifer, Serena, Brooke, Theo, Blaise and Draco, followed closely by...Harry.

"Shell, you were brilliant!" Brooke said. Her face was flushed red.

"You were amazing! You really were!" Serena teased. "I swear, _singing _it to sleep?"

Everyone laughed, but I was looking at Harry, who was very white and staring at me as though I was a ghost.

"Shelby," he said, very seriously, "I just wanted to say that…well…Do you have any idea how worried I was?"

It was as though the last three-and-a-bit years had never happened - as though Harry and I were meeting for the first time, right after I'd accepted Draco's friendship.

"Caught on, have you?" I said coldly. "Took you long enough."

My Slytherin friends stood nervously between us, looking from me to Harry. I opened my mouth uncertainly. But Harry seemed to know I was about to apologize and interrupted me.

"It's okay," he said, before I could get the words out. "Forget it. If anyone should be apologising, it's me. You were just…embracing who you are."

"No," I said, "I shouldn't have let it go on. We're family, and a change of house shouldn't have changed that. So I'm sorry."

"So am I, "Harry said. Then he looked at my friends and smiled at me. "But I don't like _them_…" he said, pointing at them with his thumb. They all growled.

I grinned nervously at him, and Harry grinned back.

"Right, well, I'm off!" Harry told me. "I told Ron and Hermione that I'd only be a minute…"

And he left the tent with all haste.

"I hope I'm still allowed to fight with him…" Draco said, popping his knuckles menacingly. I rolled my eyes.

"Of course you are," I said. "He's my brother, not my boyfriend. Do whatever you want to him."

"I can't believe you just let him back!" Serena shouted, stamping her foot on the ground. I shrugged.

"I may be a Slytherin, but I am also a Potter," I told the whole group firmly. "And a Potter looks out for her family…Harry and I used to be inseparable, you know. I was like his better half…"

"Ahh, there's the conceited Shelby we all know and love," said Theo, shaking his head.

"Shelby, c'mon, they'll be putting up your scores…" Blaise said.

Picking up the golden egg and feeling more self-satisfied than I had felt since Harry and I had started hating each other, I ducked out of the tent, all my friends by my side, talking fast.

"You were the best, you know, no competition. Diggory did this weird thing where he Transfigured a rock on the ground… turned it into a dog… he was trying to make the dragon go for the dog instead of him," Draco blabbered. The whole group sniggered. Funny how Theo had predicted that just two days before…

"Well, it was a pretty cool bit of Transfiguration, and it sort of worked, because he did get the egg, but he got burned as well - the dragon changed its mind halfway through and decided it would rather have him than the Labrador; he only just got away…" Blaise continued.

"And that Lecroix guy tried this sort of charm, I think he was trying to put it into a trance - well, that kind of worked too, it went all sleepy, but then it snored, and this great jet of flame shot out, and his pants caught fire - he put it out with a bit of water out of his wand," Brooke informed me.

"And Krum, he was probably the best after you. Hit it with a Conjunctivitis Curse right in the eye. Only thing is, it went trampling around in agony and squashed half the real eggs - they took marks off for that, he wasn't supposed to do any damage to them," Serena said.

We all went on in silence from there as we reached the edge of the enclosure. Now that the Horntail had been taken away, I could see where the five judges were sitting - right at the other end, in raised seats draped in gold.

"It's marks out of ten from each one," Draco said, and, squinting up the field, I saw the first judge - Madame Maxime - raise her wand in the air. What hooked like a long silver ribbon shot out of it, which twisted itself into a large figure eight.

"Not bad!" said Serena as the crowd applauded. "I suppose she took marks off for your shoulder…"

Mr. Crouch came next. He shot a number nine into the air.

"Looking good!" Brooke yelled, jumping up and down.

Next, Dumbledore. He too put up a nine. The crowd was cheering harder than ever.

Ludo Bagman - ten.

"Ten?" I said in disgust. "But… I got hurt… he's cheating…"

"Shell, don't complain!" Draco yelled excitedly.

I smirked.

"Who said I was complaining?"

And now Karkaroff raised his wand. He paused for a moment, and then a number shot out of his wand too - four.

"What?" Blaise bellowed furiously. "Four? You lousy, biased scumbag, you gave Krum ten!"

"He _what_!" I yelled. "Krum smashes half the eggs and he got a _ten _from him?"

"Yeah, well, to be fair, Bagman gave you a ten and you got hurt…" Theo reminded me.

And it wasn't just my friends… those weren't only Slytherins cheering in the crowd. When it had come to it, when they had seen what I was facing, most of Hogwarts had been on my side as well as Cedric's…Who cared about the Gryffindors? Everyone knew that most of them sucked anyway…

"You're tied in first place, Shelby! You and Krum!" said Serena, jerking my elbow as she held it and jumped with Brooke.

"Uh…Hi, Shelby?" said a quiet voice. I turned around and saw Harry with Weasley and Granger. Granger was the one speaking to me.

"What's up, Granger?" I asked coolly.

"I was told to tell you you've got to hang around for a few more minutes… Bagman wants a word, back in the champions' tent."

"Thanks, Granger," I said, before waving her off.

My friends said they would wait, so I went back into the tent. Lecroix, Cedric, and Krum all came in together. One side of Cedric's face was covered in a thick orange paste, which was presumably mending his burn. He grinned at me when we saw each other and I ruffled my hair and grinned back.

"Good one, Shelby."

"And you," I said.

"Well done, all of you!" said Ludo Bagman, bouncing into the tent and looking as pleased as though he personally had just got past a dragon. "Now, just a quick few words. You've got a nice long break before the second task, which will take place at half past nine on the morning of February the twenty-fourth - but we're giving you something to think about in the meantime! If you look down at those golden eggs you're all holding, you will see that they open… see the hinges there? You need to solve the clue inside the egg - because it will tell you what the second task is, and enable you to prepare for it! All clear? Sure? Well, off you go, then!"

I left the tent, rejoined my friends, and we started to walk back around the edge of the forest, talking hard; I wanted to hear what the other champions had done in more detail, to truly judge how much better I had been than them. Then, as we rounded the clump of trees behind which I had first heard the dragons roar, a witch leapt out from behind us.

It was Rita Skeeter. She was wearing acid-green robes today; the Quick-Quotes Quill in her hand blended perfectly against them.

"Congratulations, Shelby!" she said, beaming at me. "I wonder if you could give me a quick word? How you felt facing that dragon? How you feel now, about the fairness of the scoring?"

"Yeah, you can have a word," I said savagely. "In fact, I'll give you three; Get. A. Life."

And I set off back to the castle with the others.

**I recognise how awesome this chapter was. I mean, she actually got on top of the dragon's head! Much more awesome than flying around it on a broomstick…**

**Eternal love to:**

**super1 for story-alerting.**

**random, ada-cullen, xXMizz Alec VolturiXx, Searena and brookles for reviewing!**

**super1, HP Muggle, brookles and ada-cullen for favourite storying!**

**I LUVS YA ALL!**

**And, everyone, Brooke has officially joined FF! She is brookles, the girl who stole my second FF account…**

**Okay, we're getting closer to the chapter I have been avidly planning…THE YULE BALL DRAMA! But before that starts, there's going to be an after-party, a letter to Sirius and other things…so just hold your breath before the best chapter begins!**

**Until then…**

**LUVYA!**


	8. Dates

-The Unsuspected Evil Butterfly-

Shelby Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Chapter Eight- Dates

I was lead into the Slytherin common room by a large group of whooping people. I laughed and held the egg up high as we went, all of my friends gathered around me, everyone a big hustle of noise and movement.

"I CAN GET INTO THE KITCHENS!" Railley Nott and Serena screamed at the same time. Then they both looked at each other and said, "FAG," laughed and then said "I seduced George." Then they hugged briefly and continued with the rioting gang of Slytherins.

When we opened the wall to the common room, everyone stopped behind me, Draco, Blaise, Serena, Brooke, Theo and Lucifer. The couple of people who had come in early looked up at the sound. I stepped forward importantly, hugging the egg to my chest.

"My Wonderful Fellow Slytherins!" I called to everyone around. "You may rejoice! I HAVE ARRIVED!"

There was a large amount of screaming and whooping and then everyone quieted down again as I beckoned to them.

"LET THE AFTER-PARTY BEGIN!" I screamed, hoisting the egg into the air. The wave of noise that rose was thrilling.

I turned to Serena and Railley.

"Do you think that you two could go get a few bottles of Butterbeer?" I asked them. Then, feeling particularly naughty for some reason, I added, "And possibly some of the Firewhiskey that the house elves put in our cauldron cakes?"

They both nodded and winked at me, before disappearing into the crowd and out of the dungeons.

I pointed my wand to the magical wireless that was sitting on the mantelpiece above our fire. Immediately, the sound of the Weird Sisters was surrounding us. Everyone immediately began to dance and act crazy.

"Firewhiskey?" Draco asked me apprehensively. "Are you suggesting that we get drunk?"

I rolled my eyes.

"Nuh duh. Don't act like you don't want to pass out…"

He grinned like he hadn't grinned in all the years I'd known him and I grinned back.

"You know, Potter, I bet that I could get drunk and then have made out with at least three girls by the end of the night if I so chose…" he said.

"Not talking like a gentleman, you won't," I teased him, messing his hair and laughing as he hurriedly smoothed it back again. On a sudden whim, I took his hand and put it in my hair, making him mess it up. I could feel some kind of electricity running through my auburn mop. Our grins both softened to sweet smiles as we stared in each others eyes, having a moment of some sort. We leaned towards each other.

And right then, Blaise grabbed my arm and pulled me toward him, snogging me in front of everyone. I snogged him back, but a tiny part of me was wishing I'd kissed Draco…

_Shut up, Shelby! _I told that part. _You are going out with Blaise…and besides, there are so many cuter boys to like than Draco. Draco's your best friend!_

So I had now completely pushed that feeling away.

"Woooooooooo!" Theo and Brooke were shouting and before long, the whole common room was "!"-ing at me and Blaise. Even Lucifer had cracked a smile, I saw out of the corner of my eye.

It was when Serena and Railley had come back with the Firewhiskey that the party started. It hadn't taken long for most people to get sloshed- Draco and I included.

"You know, Draco," I slurred as the lights coming from an enchanted disco ball that someone had levitated to the ceiling came down on us. "Thish hash been the besht party…ever…"

"Yesh, it hash," he slurred back to me, throwing his arm around my shoulders. "And you know…why?"

I shook my head so hard that it hurt.

"Becaushe there'sh Firewhishkey…"

I slapped his arm weakly.

"No it ishn't!" I said loudly. "It ish the besht party ever becaushe it wash held…becaushe of me!"

I hiccupped loudly.

"Acshually, it ishn't!" Draco told me, his arm still wrapped tight around my shoulders. "It ish becaushe we nearly kisshed…and all my fantashies almosht came…true…"

"Ahhh, you're jusht being shilly!" I squawked, mock-punching him in the stomach.

"No, I'm not!" he protested in a ridiculously high-pitched voice. "I really, really lovesh you, Shell-el-u-by! You ish the prettiesht girl I hash ever…met…"

I looked around me, not really hearing those last words. I was feeling faintly sick and had been looking around the room in an attempt to escape to the girl's dorms (knowing full well, even in drunkenness that the boys' ones would be full of drunk young couples-perhaps even the first-year ones). All around me I could see people snogging and laughing and-and…squawking like birds as their faces got longer and more scary and unrealistic and big…and the lights were fading until the only thing I could see was their demonic eyes, with the swirling patterns prominent against their large red irises.

And then, the darkness lifted a little. I could see Harry, sitting up late with Granger and Weasley in the Gryffindor common room. No one else was around. They appeared to be having another discussion…

"You know, Harry, you did the right thing!" Granger was telling my brother, smiling encouragingly at him. "Don't listen to Ronald…"

"Hey, Hermione! You know that I'm being sensible!"

Granger rolled her eyes.

"You, sensible, Ronald? Don't make me laugh…"

"But anyway," Weasley pushed through. "You'll see one way or another tomorrow…I bet she turns up to Potions drunk or hung-over. I heard that Nott girl saying that she was planning on sneaking Firewhiskey from the kitchens for the Slytherins' after-party…"

"Oh, dear!" Granger worried. "What if someone gets hurt? Maybe we should tell someone…"

"No, Hermione," Harry said. "That's my sister. If it was just the others then maybe I'd tell on them, but not if Shelby's involved."

_Aww…_I remember thinking in my drunken dream. _How sweet is Harry?_

He leaned in to Weasley and Granger.

"You know how disappointed Sirius would be in me if I just got her in trouble like that?" he said. "He told me that nothing is more important than maintaining my ties with my family! Not even saving their lives, in the end…anything that'll make them mad is worth skipping over…"

I nearly snorted in my sleep. Sirius didn't really care about that, I knew that much. He told me that when he was my age, he was the one getting sloshed at parties and passing out on the floor…

"Oh, come on, Harry!" Weasley said. "She's a Slytherin! You know there wasn't an evil wizard that hasn't come from Slytherin!"

"What about Peter Pettigrew?" Harry pointed out. "_He _was one of my dad's best friends, and look how he turned out!"

"You know, Harry, Ronald, I think we should be getting to bed," Granger said. "We've all had a long day and we've got class tomorrow so…"

"Yeah, come on, let's just go to bed and forget about Shelby, Ron!"

"Alright. 'Night Hermione…"

And then I felt hands shaking me awake. I opened my eyes and saw Brooke's normal, pre-and-post-drunk face. As my eyes focused on my surroundings (the Slytherin common room floor, right in front of the empty fireplace) I became aware of a horrible headache. I winced.

Brooke smiled and held out a small red potion bottle.

"This will help, Shell," she said gently, coaxing me up. "Just sit up and drink it and your hangover will go away…"

I groaned and did as she said, gulping down the whole thing at once. My head gave a final throb and then was perfectly clear.

"Thanks, Brooke," I said in a voice that was only slurred with tiredness. "Pepper-Up Potion?"

"Yep," she replied, pulling another bottle out of her robes and moving onto Theo, who was blacked out not for from where I sat. "My uncles have been getting me tipsy at family get-togethers ever since I turned twelve. I kind of needed to know about this…"

"Your family sounds awesome," I said, rubbing my head. "Ugh, now my back hurts…"

"Just go get dressed, wash your face, do all your morning stuff and you'll be fine," she said, grabbing Theo by the shoulders and beginning to shake him gently. "I already sent the others off. You and Theo were the last down here after Pansy, Daphne, Crabbe, Goyle, Blaise, Railley, Serena and- get this- even Lucifer! Everyone else just woke up and went off woozily to breakfast, still wearing their stained, disgusting robes. We Slytherins are going to be even more repulsive than usual today…"

I grinned at her and she shooed me off to the dorm.

"Go get sorted!" she commanded. "I can't bear to look at such a gorgeous girl when she's all messed up like you are right now!"

I trudged slowly up the staircase to the girls' dorm, hearing Brooke's voice float up to me. "Remember that you are going to visit Alice for the day!"

I groaned even louder this time. Don't get me wrong, I loved visiting Alice, my godmother, in St Mungo's. I was just very tired. Visiting Alice made me feel like I was really worth something. I loved the little gasp of surprise that she gave these days when I popped behind her curtain and she remembered me.

"Y-you're that girl…" she'd say breathlessly, and then she'd blink, scream my name and throw her arms around my neck. Sometimes, she remembered Neville first-time too. He always came with me when I visited his parents. But she usually had to be reminded about him before everything came rushing back to her…

Today, when we turned up in her bed-area -both of us holding one of Augusta Longbottom's hands- was a good day for Alice.

"Y-you're that girl…" she said. Then she blinked and I cringed in preparation for the scream.

"SHELBY!" she shouted, gripping me in a kind of vertical head-lock. "Oh, and you've brought Neville and Augusta too!"

She and Neville had a sweet, loving embrace and then she turned back to me.

"Sirius came by with your letter," she said seriously. "I can actually remember it…"

I smiled at her. Alice was the person that meant the most to me in life, bar Sirius. She was the only person besides Sirius that knew everything that was going on with my life, even if she didn't find out about it from me or until a while after it all had happened. If Sirius was my only living father-figure, I knew that Alice was my mother-figure.

Therefore, she knew all about me being a Slytherin and everything. She had heard from Harry that I wasn't as sweet and lovely at school as I was around her. But that was the best thing about Alice. She didn't care. She remembered me by my Lily-streak, that nice spicy part of my mother that brought off my dad's cocky, bad-boy attitude and made me a Slytherin. In her mind, that was way more important than what House I was Sorted into any day. And she kept on loving me and being concerned about me as though she actually was my mother.

"You know what, Alice," I said to her. "That is really great."

She made me sit down on the bed beside her. Right behind us, looking as timid as a rabbit as he lay in his bed and gazed out at us all was Frank, Alice's husband. Augusta and Neville were talking to him, giving Alice and I some privacy.

"Shelby," she said, holding my hand and squeezing it. "My remembering Sirius bringing the letter isn't half as important as what was in the letter. You were chosen to compete as the fourth champion in the Triwizard Tournament. I thought that there were going to be rules against younger students participating…but, of course, it wasn't you or one of your friends who put your name in that Goblet, was it?"

I looked into her blue eyes, thinking how much more in proportion to the rest of her face they seemed than the first time I had met her.

"No," I said. "It wasn't."

"And these dreams you talk about here! Are they indicating something? Are they real events?"

"I think I've been seeing them through Harry's mind. I think that on the night that Mum and Dad were murdered, Voldemort forged a connection between Harry and himself and me and Harry. I know I have a connection to Harry, because I've gone into his mind on purpose before…"

Alice looked at me, smiling a little.

"He has no idea about it, does he?" she asked. I shook my head and she reached out her hand to ruffle my hair.

"You're a trouble-maker, you are," she said fondly. "You remind me so much of James in that way…even Lily got like that sometimes…like that time when she stole Sirius' boxers and threw them out the window to a bunch of screaming girls…and that time when she made our little group of girls kidnap Sirius and James (back when they were still Black and Potter to us) and give them a trial to decide their punishment for turning our hair the worst shade of green imaginable…she sentenced them to one hour each of running up and down the hallways of the castle stark naked at midnight…"

I loved these little stories about my parents and godparents at Hogwarts. They were comforting, they were like real proof that Mum and Dad had existed once…

She pulled Neville over and amused the both of us with the stories, hugging her son tightly and holding my hand.

When it was time to leave and I was kissing Alice goodbye, I whispered in her ear, "I got through the First Task. I had to get past a dragon to retrieve a golden egg…I had a plan, but ended up on it's head, singing it to sleep. I'm tied for first with Viktor Krum…"

I felt her tense up a little, but she relaxed again quickly.

"Are you okay, Shell?" she asked. I nodded and murmured "Yes."

"Well, then, I'm not as worried about you. A calm person always does better than a frantic one…but I want you to be careful."

I kissed her cheek.

"Of course, Alice…"

And, with that, Augusta ushered Neville and I away.

It was around three-thirty when I got back to the Slytherin common room, meaning that classes had ended and Sirius was home.

"How was Alice?" Draco asked, with his head stuck in a book we had to read for Charms.

"She was better than usual," I replied, lighting a match and throwing into the fireplace and grabbing the little pot of special Floo powder that only allowed students to speak to whoever they needed, but which had a barrier that stopped us from stepping out of the actual school. I took a pinch of it and sprinkled it among the flames that had now sprung up.

"Number 12, Grimmauld Place!" I said to the flames, which turned green. I got on my hands and knees and stuck my head in. The strange sensation of travelling by Floo made my head and body feel separate. My head popped out in the fireplace of the sitting room of Sirius' place. The room was empty.

"SIRIUS!" I screamed. I heard him shout with surprise somewhere and then his loud footsteps as he rushed into the room.

"Lower your weapon!" he shouted, holding his wand ahead of him and pointing it all over the room. When it fell on me, I cocked an eyebrow and smirked.

"Nice to see you too, Sirius," I said.

He blinked and stared at me, before rushing over to the fireplace with a grin on his face.

"SHELL!" he said happily. "I read all about that Horntail in the _Prophet_, are you alright? The article said that you got by with only minor injuries, but…"

"No, I'm fine, Sirius, really," I laughed. "We had an awesome after-party and I got smashed."

He chuckled.

"You would make your father proud," he said. "Have you tried your Animagus form again, yet?"

"Yep. The very same night. It worked perfectly."

"Did you tell anyone else about it?"

"I haven't really had the chance," I replied. "Everyone was so hyped up about the First Task."

"Of course they were! It was such big news, the whole thing was! Do you know what kind of stuff Rita Skeeter has been writing about you? 'Shelby Potter, a girl who, at first glance, appears to be your average fourteen-year-old, but who, upon conversing with her, is revealed to be an arrogant, try-hard girl, has recently won victory in the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament. However, we must ask ourselves- does her need to make physical contact with the dragon show a deeper need that she has to be the centre of attention?"

I laughed.

"You know, Rita is providing free advertisement for me…" I said.

Sirius raised his eyebrows.

"Do you mean to tell me that you want her to post all this rubbish about you being an unofficial juvenile delinquent?" he asked me, unsmiling. I nodded and he frowned.

"Shelby, there may come a time where you need the support of the wizarding world, and you won't have it, because Skeeter will have told everyone that you are attention-seeking and not to be trusted," he warned. I shrugged.

"That's something I'll have to deal with when I get to it," I said. "But, anyway, I just popped in to show you in flesh that I am alive…I'll go now."

"Alright," Sirius said, blowing me a kiss. "Goodbye, Shell."

"Zabini! Nott! Will you pay attention?"

Professor Snape's irritated voice cracked like a whip through the common room on Thursday morning, right before breakfast, and Blaise and Theo both jumped and looked up.

Considering the time of day in which Snape had decided to grace us with his presence and the tone of voice he had used when talking to the boys, I assumed that whatever was up his butt couldn't be good.

Breakfast was due to start at any moment, and all the boys (especially Blaise and Theo, who had been having a sword fight with a couple of FAG's fake wands at the back of the room to fend off their hunger), looked up, at Snape impatiently, waiting for breakfast to begin. We girls were just snickering and staring at Blaise holding a tin parrot and Theo holding a rubber haddock from the corner of our eyes.

"Now that Zabini and Nott have been kind enough to act their age," said Professor Snape, with an angry look at the pair of them as the head of Theo's haddock drooped and fell silently to the floor - Blaise's parrot's beak had severed it moments before - "I have something to say to you all.

"The Yule Ball is approaching, a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and an opportunity for us to socialize with our foreign guests. Now, the ball will be open only to fourth years and above - although you may invite a younger student if you wish -"

Daphne let out a shrill giggle. Pansy nudged her hard in the ribs, her face working furiously as she too fought not to giggle. They both looked around at Draco, who tried hard to ignore them but shifted uncomfortably in his seat and edged closer to me.

"Dress robes will be worn," Snape continued, "and the ball will start at eight o'clock on Christmas Day, finishing at midnight in the Great Hall. Now then -"

He stared deliberately around the class.

"The Yule Ball is of course a chance for us all to be recreational," he said, in a disapproving voice. "But that does NOT mean that I won't be severely disappointed if I find any of you relaxing the standards of behaviour I expect from my Slytherin students. I will be most seriously displeased if a Slytherin student embarrasses our House in any way."

The boys all looked pointedly at the clock until Snape dismissed us, and there was the usual scuffle of activity as everyone packed their bags for the day and swung them onto their shoulders.

Snape called above the noise, "Miss Potter - a word, if you please."

I proceeded sluggishly to Snape's side (I absolutely never woke up before breakfast was at least half-way finished). He waited until the rest of the House had gone off, and then said, "Miss Potter, the champions and their partners open the ball. It is a tradition which Slytherin House won't be the first to break."

"Partners as in dance partners?" I asked.

"As is tradition," he said, confirming my thought. "You are a Hogwarts champion, and you will open that ball and for that, you need a dance partner. So make sure you get yourself a partner, Miss Potter."

"Of course, Professor," I said sweetly. "It shouldn't be too hard…"

"I agree with you there," said Snape in a very far-away sort of way, before walking off.

I had never known so many people to put their names down to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas; Harry always did, of course, because the alternative was spending the Christmas shut up with me, but he had always been very much in the minority before now. I always went with Sirius because, like most people in the school, it was nice to spend a couple of weeks with my family and, besides, all my friends were off too.

This year, however, everyone in the fourth year and above seemed to be staying, and they all seemed to me to be obsessed with the coming ball - or at least all the girls were, and it was amazing how many girls Hogwarts suddenly seemed to hold; I had never quite noticed that before. Girls giggling and whispering in the corridors, girls shrieking with laughter as boys passed them, girls excitedly comparing notes on what they were going to wear on Christmas night…girls who were competition. I found myself narrowing my eyes every time a particularly pretty girl walked past me.

"What's up with you?" I asked Draco on Friday evening as a dozen or so girls walked past them on our way back from the library, sniggering and staring at him, making him shiver. He stepped closer to me. "You've been wearing that expression ever since yesterday morning!"

He didn't answer. Although I was sure he knew perfectly well what I was talking about. He had been going around ever since Snape's announcement, looking as though he wanted to ask me something but was working up the nerve to say it… It was all very puzzling, because I'd left him alone with Brooke, Serena and Theo at breakfast that day and they told me he had been fine, although I noticed that Serena had slid a rather ominous side-ways glance at Draco.

After a minute of silence, I threw up my hands and kept walking.

In the common room that night, I decided to check up on Harry.

"Listen, you're not going to have any trouble. You're a champion's brother. Shelby's just beaten a Hungarian Horntail. I bet they'll be queuing up to go with you."

I decided that Weasley was pushing the truth to try and make Harry feel better.

However, to mine and Harry's amazement, he turned out to be quite right.

I was keeping tabs on Harry that whole week, trying to find ways to pay him back for accepting me again. On Saturday, a curly-haired third-year Hufflepuff girl to whom I knew Harry had never spoken in his life asked him to go to the ball with her. I snickered, watching as Harry was so taken aback he said no before he'd even stopped to consider the matter.

The girl had walked off looking rather hurt. The following day, two more girls asked him, a second year and (to his horror) a fifth year who looked as though she might knock him out if he refused.

"She was quite good-looking," Weasley had said fairly, after he'd stopped laughing.

"She was a foot taller than me," said Harry, still unnerved. "Imagine what I'd look like trying to dance with her."

I had picked up a certain pattern in Harry's thoughts, however. Whenever he turned down a girl, he would immediately start comparing them to Weaslette and Cho Chang, and then compared Weaslette and Cho Chang to each other. I knew how I was going to make it up to Harry- and annoy someone I didn't like in the process!

On the whole, my life had definitely improved since I had got through the first task, which I never would have thought possible. I wasn't attracting nearly as much unpleasantness in the corridors anymore, which I suspected had a lot to do with Cedric - I had an idea Cedric might have told the Hufflepuffs to leave me alone again, more firmly this time around, in gratitude for my tipoff about the dragons.

There seemed to be fewer Support Cedric Diggory badges around too. Lavender Brown, of course, was still quoting Rita Skeeter's article to me at every possible opportunity, but she was getting fewer and fewer laughs out of it, even from the Gryffindors. Now, the words, "I can't actually count the number of boys I've snogged…" were hailed with admiring looks from all.

I had, of course, been extremely successful in the way of dates. I had had plenty of people ask me to the ball- such as Roger Davis, captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, a few of Benjamin Lecroix's fitter mates and many fit Durmstrang boys- but I kept turning them down because they weren't good enough.

"So, what are you going to do when all the good boys are taken and all of the crap ones have asked you?" Brooke asked me, while meaningfully eyeing Theo, who was…meaningfully eyeing her?

"Go with Draco, who will dump whatever date he has for me…" I replied, idly flicking through the week's issue of Witch Weekly. "Oooh, I _have _to have this set of dress robes!"

Serena and Brooke crowded around me, looking at the beautiful set of silver robes that were accessorised with dark forest green. They were the style that muggles wore in the seventeenth century- a long, sweeping skirt with flowing sleeves and a proper tight-fitting bodice.

"That is so fitting for the Slytherin Princess," Brooke teased.

"You know, Shell," Serena said. "You do have a boyfriend…"

I paled.

"Merlin's G-strings, you're totally right! I have a boyfriend!" I turned to my friends. "What would Blaise think?"

Serena sniggered.

"He told everyone that there was no way he was going to open the ball, so he went on the market for another fit girl," she said, tapping my nose with her finger. "He just assumed you would understand…"

I relaxed into my chair.

"Did he get a girl, then?" I asked. Right then, Railley Nott came screaming into the room, surrounded by her screaming friends.

"MERLIN'S BLOODY BEST CHINA! BLAISE ZABINI JUST ASKED ME TO THE YULE BALL!" she screamed. Seeing as me, Brooke and Serena were the only other people in the room, we all stared at her. She finally stopped screaming and noticed me, before going red with embarrassment.

"Oh, Shelby!" she said nervously. "Umm…look, Blaise said that you wouldn't mind and…"

"Don't worry, Railley," I interrupted her. "Blaise and I have a very understanding relationship…"

After she'd gone, Serena poked me in the ribs.

"So, was 'understanding relationship' code for 'a relationship that I'm bored with'?" she asked slyly.

I grabbed a piece of her hair and pulled with one hand while the other rubbed her ribs to tickle her.

"No- no. STOP! I take it back! RUN FOR IT!"

My face was suddenly covered with saliva, which felt so unpleasant that I had to release her to try and wipe it off.

"Yeah," she said smugly. "That's the way I roll. Don't mess with RUN FOR IT!"

The last week of term became increasingly boisterous as it progressed. Rumours about the Yule Ball were flying everywhere, though I didn't believe half of them - for instance, that Dumbledore had bought eight hundred barrels of mulled mead from Madam Rosmerta. It seemed to be fact, however, that he had booked the Weird Sisters. That one had produced wild excitement among the students.

Some of the teachers, like little Professor Flitwick, gave up trying to teach us much when our minds were so clearly elsewhere; he allowed us to play games in his lesson on Wednesday, and spent most of it talking to me about where my perfect Disillusionment Charm that I had used during the first task of the Triwizard Tournament had gone wrong. I was pleased to hear that it was difficult work to keep it up for more than five minutes for a NEWT student, meaning that I had held my own very well.

Other teachers were not so generous. Nothing would ever deflect Professor Binns, for example, from plowing on through his notes on goblin rebellions - as Binns hadn't let his own death stand in the way of continuing to teach, everyone supposed a small thing like Christmas wasn't going to put him off. It was amazing how he could make even bloody and vicious goblin riots sound as boring as Percy Weasley's cauldron-bottom report for work that he kept going on about when we had visited the Weasleys over the summer.

Professors McGonagall and Moody kept us working until the very last second of their classes too, and Snape, of course, would no sooner let us play games in class than adopt Harry, who he absolutely loathed for some reason. Staring nastily around at all the Gryffindors in class one day, he informed us that he would be testing us on poison antidotes during the last lesson of the term.

Another thing we had going on was Serena's dealings with FAG. They had been doing a lot of plotting in the library of late and the whole of the rest of the school was terribly worried about what they had in store. When Serena emerged into the common room one day and announced that she would be attending the Yule Ball with George, as a matter of convenience, all of us shivered **(A/N: PSYCH, Searena!).**

The Hogwarts staff, demonstrating a continued desire to impress the visitors from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, seemed determined to show the castle at its best this Christmas. When the decorations went up, they were the most stunning I had yet seen inside the school.

Everlasting icicles had been attached to the banisters of the marble staircase; the usual twelve Christmas trees in the Great Hall were bedecked with everything from luminous holly berries to real, hooting, golden owls, and the suits of armour had all been bewitched to sing carols whenever anyone passed them.

It was quite something to hear "O Come, All Ye Faithful" sung by an empty helmet that only knew half the words. Several times, Filch the caretaker had to extract Peeves from inside the armour, where he had taken to hiding, filling in the gaps in the songs with lyrics of his own invention, all of which were very rude.

And still Harry hadn't asked Cho or Weaslette to the ball.

I was getting very nervous now, knowing that I was running out of time. Much as I hated to admit it, both Cho and Weaslette were attractive and someone was bound to have asked them. So, one day, I cornered Cho after breakfast.

"Hi, Chang," I said, by way of greeting.

"Umm...hi? I don't think you've ever spoken to me before…" she replied apprehensively.

"Listen, you know my brother, Harry?"

She blushed slightly and nodded.

"Well, if he came up to you right now and asked you to the Yule Ball, would you say yes?"

"Erm… I don't know why I'm telling you, but yes," Cho said.

"That's great news," I said, smiling. "Well, could you go and ask him to the ball? It'd definitely boost his confidence and all that…"

"Well, sure. The other guy didn't ask me anyway…umm, why didn't Harry ask me himself?"

"Because I owed him and I happen to know he likes you. A lot."

"Really?" Cho asked, blushing deeper with excitement. I smiled back at her.

"Absolutely!"

"Oh…wow, Shelby, thanks so much for this!"

The next time I glimpsed Harry that day - during lunchtime- he looked exceptionally happy and pleased with himself. I walked up to him to make sure that my plan had worked.

"What are you so chirpy about?" I asked. He flushed.

"Oh…um…nothing, it's just that…well, I was asked to the ball by the girl I like…you know, Cho Chang?" he answered. I smirked inwardly. My work here was done.

Snape's Potions test on Friday had been a cinch, and consequently the low-light of my day. It hadn't been hard enough to stimulate the raging, inquisitive neurons in my brain that desperately wanted to learn…and it hadn't been diverting enough to take my mind off my plans for the ball.d.

When the bell rang, I grabbed my bag, and hurried to the dungeon door.

"I'll meet you at dinner," I said to Draco, and I dashed off upstairs.

I had not yet received an invitation to the ball from any particularly fit boys. I had therefore dashed upstairs to make sure my limited amount of makeup and my short hair were perfect, hoping for a chance to find Weaslette and to taunt her. I had reached my mirror in my dorm only to find that I was still as close to perfect as I was going to get and walked downstairs without seeing Weaslette once.

"What's up, guys," I said to my friends as I sat down. Brooke and Theo were glaring in opposite directions to each other, Serena was moodily picking at her food with her fork and Draco still had that I've-got-a-secret-that-I-want-to-tell-you-but-am-too-afraid look on his face.

At least Blaise looked happy- he was locked in conversation with Railley, who was glowing with happiness.

"Brooke was asked to the ball by that fine Ravenclaw boy, Anthony Goldstein" Serena answered me, straightening up a fraction.

"So, did you say yes?" I asked Brooke. She kept glaring as she replied, "No, I didn't."

I was confused.

"Why not?"

She turned her head to look at me, her eyes red around the rims.

"Because I am waiting for someone else to ask me," she said. "And he's too much of a coward to do it…"

I swung my head around to stare at Theo.

"You've got to be kidding me, Theodore," I said to him. "Just ask Brooke to the ball and be done with it!"

"It's not that simple, Shell!" Brooke said. "He just accepted an invitation from Daphne Greengrass to the ball! Right in front of me!"

"Why the hell did you do that?" I reprimanded Theo.

"Because she took me by surprise!" he shouted back, although it looked to me that he was talking more to Brooke than the rest of us. "And I can't exactly say 'Oh, Daphne, I can't go with you anymore because I found a better girl to go with' can I?"

"Merlin, of course you can, Theo!" I shouted at him. "Are you a Slytherin or not? Don't worry about hurting her feelings, just ask the girl you really like to the ball and be done with it!"

"Stop meddling, Shelby!" Theo told me, making me puff up with indignation.

"No, Shelby's right, Theo!" Brooke said. "And don't pretend that you don't want to go with me, because I can tell that you do!"

That one left Theo speechless. Brooke took a deep breath and continued.

"I've liked you since I got here and met you, Theo," she said in a small voice. "And I really thought that you liked me back. You have no idea how many boys I've turned down to go to this ball because I've been really hoping that _you _would ask me instead."

Theo was frozen for a moment, but then he grinned wide and grabbed Brooke, snogging her passionately (I felt a little jealous, because it wasn't the kind of snogging that I would do with my boyfriends, it was a real display of real affection). Then he jumped up, walked to Daphne's place at the table and said, loud enough for the whole hall to hear, "You know, Greengrass, I've always found you to be very annoying," and then he left with Brooke as the whole Slytherin table cheered and Daphne cried loudly.

I now turned to Serena, who was still moping into her food.

"So, what's your problem?" I asked.

"Oh," she said dully. "George found another date…Alicia Spinnet, you know…"

"Merlin, you don't like George, do you?" I asked, my eyes widening with wonder.

"Oh, no…it's just that, his brother, Ron, hadn't found a date and they were trying to find a way to help us stick together easier- because we have plans for the ball, you know- and FAG asked that I go with him…and I said yes, because they promised that he would probably be too busy moping because of Granger rejecting him for someone else- no, I don't know who, no one except Weaslette does- and…yeah. I have to go to the ball with Ronald Weasley." **(A/N: DOUBLE PSYCH, SEARENA!)**

I stared at her.

"Why in Merlin's name did you agree to that?" I asked. "Are you stupid or something?"

She shrugged.

"I really couldn't care less about that part. You know me. But, the problem is that Lucifer asked me right after FAG went away to tell Ron and I had to tell him no," she continued, crushing a slice of lettuce with her fork. I gaped at her.

"You like Lucifer?" I asked. She nodded, looking very tired.

"It's alright, though, I guess," she said. "I thought all along that these balls were so trivial…" She stood up. "I'm not hungry. I think I'll go to bed."

And that left Draco.

"So, are you ever going to tell me what's wrong with you?" I asked him rudely. He just stared at his food as he chewed it slowly.

Feeling more than a little fed up with my friends, I got up.

"This is pointless," I said, beginning to walk away.

"SHELBY, WAIT!" two voices called to me. I sighed and turned around, to see Draco and Cedric Diggory standing up and glaring at each other.

"What's up, Cedric?" I called to him. He ruffled up his hair at the same time as I did and grinned at me.

"Well, I've been trying to find you all week, Shelby! I just wanted to ask you if you would like to go to the ball with me…"

I looked at him, assessing him. He was amazing. His grey eyes and dark hair were both very handsome and his toned body was ve-ery fit. And he was nice to me, even though I was the Slytherin Princess That Everyone Hated. Deciding that he would be just fine, I grinned back.

"Of course I'll go to the ball with you," I said, walking back to him and throwing my arms around his waist. He hugged me back. It was warm and comfortable beneath his muscled arms.

"Well, I have to go," he said happily, pulling away from me. "I've got a late Quidditch session planned with the lads down at the pitch…got to stay in form for next year, you know…"

I stared after him as he walked away and then turned back to Draco.

"Your turn now," I said, taking note of his flushed, angry face with surprise.

He just shook his head and turned away from me.

"Never mind…" he growled.

As I watched my best friend walk away, I felt a strange, longing pang. I spontaneously and briefly wished that I had asked him to the ball before Cedric had asked me…

"No, that's stupid…" I told myself. "Wake up, Shelby."

And I walked off to find that copy of Witch Weekly. I needed that set of robes I had seen in the fashion section.

**Poor Draco, right? BET THAT SUCKED FOR YOU, SEARENA!**

**Eternal love to:**

**nancypancy and -7539352- for story alerting.**

**ada-cullen, super1, DMxxfreek and Searena for reviewing.**

**Nancypancy for favourite storying.**

**I LUVS YA ALL!**

**Guess what happens next chappie?**

**THE YULE BALL!**

**Yes, folks, the chappie you've all been waiting for!**

**If it is particularly dramatic, I shall make it span over two chapters…**

**LUVYA!**


	9. Nutbush

-The Unsuspected Evil Butterfly-

Shelby Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Chapter 9- Nutbush

"Hey! Look at this!" Serena chirped happily on the morning of the Yule Ball, Christmas Day, as we sat at the breakfast table. "I got a letter!"

Brooke and I scooted closer to her, peering over her shoulders at the letter. There were two pages.

"Dear Serena," she read out from the first page. "On the next page is a sentence which we should like for you to scream out loud to the hall. EVERYONE must hear! That is crucial! We bet you ten Galleons that you won't have the guts to do it. Binomially Yours (isn't binomially such an awesome word?) Fred and George a.k.a. Gred and Forge a.k.a. FAG. P.S. Merry Christmas!"

She looked up, smirking. "Well, that shouldn't be too hard," she said brightly, turning over the page. "Okay. I AM-"

She stopped suddenly, staring down at the words the boys had written. _I am a blue baboon's arse…_

Then she decided to change the words a little.

Therefore, it had really sounded as though she had screamed "I AM FUCKING FRED AND GEORGE!"

"WHAT!" the Hall gasped collectively, while Brooke and I snorted with laughter. Several heads rose from the crowd, with large black cameras attached to them. Most of the Slytherins looked horrified. Draco, who had been ignoring everyone since I had accepted Cedric's invitation to the ball, looked up from his pumpkin juice, mid swallow, with eyes as round as saucers and promptly spat all of the drink back out, all over Pansy Parkinson, who screamed. Daphne Greengrass had fainted, and was now rolling around on the floor with her eyes rolling madly.

Hysterical with laughter, FAG sauntered over to the Slytherin table.

"Hello there, Serena," George said, grinning. "You really shouldn't have told about us just yet…"

"You should have seen Ron's face, he looked heartbroken!" Fred cried.

Serena glared at the both of them, her eyes narrowed and her cheeks flaming red.

"Fuck you, Fred and George," she growled dangerously.

FAG exchanged a look and looked back at her, mirth in their eyes as they said together, "Well, from what WE'VE heard, YOU ALREADY ARE!"

The corresponding chase that ensued (FAG ran all over the Hall, trying to stay out of the reach of a seethingly angry, literally spitting Serena, who was trying to give them the ultimate RUN FOR IT) was extremely entertaining.

"FIRST, you force me to go to the ball with George!" Serena was screaming. "THEN you tell me that George accidently got a date, so I have to go with your pathetic little brother!" At the Gryffindor table, Weasley puffed up with indignation. "AND NOW THIS! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU TWO GINGER DEMONS!"

"YOU STILL OWE US TEN GALLEONS, YOU LOST THE BET!" Fred screamed back at her gleefully. She snarled loudly and picked up the nearest first year, throwing her at him. I laughed as the snotty little girl's laughing expression faded to fear.

"Oh, come on, Rena!" George cackled. "You know you want us!"

"I would NEVER want YOU, George!" she screamed back hysterically. "EVERYONE knows that FRED is hotter than YOU!"

"We're identical, Rena, hadn't you ever realised?"

"Your nose is off-centre! Compared to you, Fred is, like, as hot as being in an oven! AND COMPARED TO BOTH OF YOU, LUCIFER IS LIKE HELL! BURNING FUCKING HELL!"

I rolled my eyes and looked at Lucifer, who was calmly staring into his hot chocolate, although I could have sworn that I saw him crack a small smile. I looked back up at Serena, who seemed to have realised what she had said and was blushing, although she might have been flushing with rage and over-exertion, because she was still running around and glaring at both Fred and George with a dangerous gleam in her eyes.

The Beauxbatons lot were all laughing daintily and the Durmstrangs were chuckling heartily.

"Who is that, Filius?" Dumbledore asked Flitwick, his eyes twinkling merrily.

"Serena Dyob, I believe, Dumbledore!" Flitwick squeaked. Dumbledore chuckled.

"I should have known!" he said. "After all, who else would swear so loudly in public, or be bothered to chase the Weasley Twins around the Hall?"

Professors Snape and McGonagall looked OUTRAGED.

"DETENTION!" they both screamed, flecks of spit flying from their mouths. "FIFTY POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR EACH, WEASLEY AND WEASLEY!"

Then Professor McGonagall shouted, "FIFTY FROM SLYTHERIN TOO, MISS DYOB!"

Funny how Snape was strangely silent at that point. Also funny how he and McGonagall had just accidently lost Gryffindors two hundred points in one go, because both of them had deducted one hundred from them at the same time. Sucked in Gryffindor!

"It is too 'eavy, all zis 'Ogwarts food," I heard a snooty nose saying grumpily as we left the Great Hall, all still laughing spectacularly. "I will not fit into my dress robes!"

"Oooh there's a tragedy," another voice snapped. I looked up. In front of us, Fleur Delacour, the gorgeous French girl that was Benjamin Lecroix's girlfriend was ranting to her friends as they went out into the entrance hall. I turned around. Harry, Weasley and Granger were walking behind us.

"She really thinks a lot of herself, that one, doesn't she?" Granger was saying in a bitchy tone.

"Hermione - who are you going to the ball with?" said Weasley.

Judging from the conversations of theirs that I had been listening into (via Harry, of course), I knew that he had kept springing this question on her, hoping to startle her into a response by asking it when she least expected it. However, Granger merely frowned and said, "I'm not telling you, you'll just make fun of me."

"You're joking, Weasley!" said Draco, who had sauntered up from behind them. "You're not telling me someone's asked that to the ball? Not the long-molared Mudblood?"

I widened my eyes in shock. We WERE Slytherins, but I had thought I'd stamped the whole "mudblood" thing out of my friends. I could tell that Draco was probably still really upset at me for some reason, to be ignoring that now.

Harry and Weasley both whipped around, but Granger, who had also turned to stare at Draco, said loudly, waving to somebody over his shoulder, "Hello, Professor Moody!"

Draco went pale and jumped backward, looking wildly around for Moody, no doubt remembering the "Amazing Bouncing Ferret" incident from earlier on in the year, but Moody was still up at the staff table, finishing his stew.

"Twitchy little ferret, aren't you, Malfoy?" said Granger scathingly and she, Harry, and Weasley made to go up the marble staircase, laughing heartily.

Theo however, who was very loyal to his close friends, decided that he couldn't have that.

"Oi, Granger!" he called, looking down his nose at her, frowning. I watched as he cast around for something to tease her about, and found something quickly. "Your teeth…"

"What about them?" she hissed defensively.

"Well, they're different… I've just noticed…"

"Of course they are - did you expect me to keep those fangs Malfoy gave me?"

"No, I mean, they're finally straight and normal-sized!"

She suddenly smiled very mischievously.

"Well… when I went up to Madam Pomfrey to get them shrunk, she held up a mirror and told me to stop her when they were back to how they normally were," she said. "And I just… let her carry on a bit." She smiled even more widely. "And, by the way, if that's the best you can come up with, you should quit your day job."

Weasley and Harry sniggered, but Theo wasn't finished yet. Smirking, he shouted out, "MERLIN'S SAGGY LEFT BUTTOCKS! GRANGER FINALLY DECIDED TO PRETEND TO BE A GIRL! NOW SHE LOOKS ABOUT AS CONVINCING AS A DRAG QUEEN!"

As everyone around chuckled, Granger went very red. Harry and Weasley did too. And then, Harry whipped out his wand and pointed it at Theo.

"Why can't you just leave us alone?" he shouted at him. "Furnuncu-"

However, before Harry could get the rest of the incantation out, he was flying backwards, and Brooke was standing in the place where he had been, her fists held out threateningly (with blood dripping down them, too) and her face wearing an expression which wouldn't have looked out of place on an angry bull.

There was stunned silence. Suddenly, Brooke, who was breathing heavily, leapt over to where Harry had flown, and leaned over his body, kicking at it mercilessly. After about thirty seconds of it, where everyone watched, frozen, she seemed to remember herself.

And she whipped out her wand.

"Furnunculus!" she hissed, giving Harry a large amount of disgusting, pussy boils. She then put the Body-Bind curse on him, bent down close to him and said, "And to think that YOU were one of the people that brought Voldemort down as a baby! To think that a WORTHLESS, PATHETIC, WHINY, SPOTTY, NERDY-LOOKING _**TURD**_like YOU could ever be related to someone as awesome as Shelby!" She spat at him. "Get bent, Piss-Weak Potter! And leave Theo ALONE…"

Brooke then straightened up, tossed her chin-length bob off her face and walked back over to us. Everyone was still somewhat shell-shocked. A group of third-year girls were standing around, all looking as though Voldemort himself was standing in the room.

Finally, Draco seemed to wake up.

"Clear off!" he snapped at everyone, waving them towards the staircases. "Get lost, or we'll unleash Camydac on you all!"

Everyone started to move off, us included. Theo walked over to Brooke and swung an arm around her shoulders.

"That was hot, Brooke," he said cheekily. She grinned at him and mock-punched him in the gut, making him flinch away from her slightly.

"I have to agree with Theodore," Blaise said pompously, throwing his arm over Railley's shoulders. I noted that she looked quite flushed, and realised that she and Blaise had been spending an awful lot of time together lately. I made a mental note to end our relationship before lunchtime, whenever I got a spare moment with him. Even though I had gotten defensive with Serena before when she had said it, I was really bored with our relationship.

"Yeah, me too," Lucifer mumbled, looking at the back of Serena's head like a lost, hungry puppy looks at a hotdog (however cannibalistic that may sound). Serena, in turn, was looking anywhere but at Lucifer.

"Hey, has anyone else noticed that we haven't gotten any presents yet?" asked Astoria, who was still travelling around with us. I frowned.

"Actually, yes," I answered. "That's strange: it's Christmas Day, after all!"

"They're gonna do something special, with the Yule Ball and all happening..." Serena put in. Brooke and Theo turned and smiled at us.

"Of course that's what's happening," Theo said cheerfully.

"We overheard something of the sort when we were passing by McGonagall's office the other day, and Dumbledore was giving her instructions about the Ball preparations," Brooke added.

"We're going to be splitting into groups at half past eleven, and then a huge mass of owls are going to fly in the windows and drop our presents down to us, and we'll all open them together, to enhance the feeling of welcome and family," Serena said, unexpectedly.

We all stared blankly at her.

"Do we even WANT to know how you know that?" Blaise asked. She shrugged.

"Even if you did, I'm not telling. But you will see tonight…"

We spent the rest of the morning relaxing in the Slytherin dungeons, where everyone was enjoying each others company, and then we returned to the Great Hall for a magnificent lunch, which included at least a hundred turkeys and Christmas puddings, and large piles of Cribbage's Wizarding Crackers.

Straight after this, I cornered Blaise on his way to the men's room and told him that I was getting tired of our relationship. I watched sourly as he shrugged and told me he agreed.

"So, you really like Railley, then?" I asked. He blushed in an unmanly way and nodded.

"So, you really like Diggory, then?" he asked me back. I grinned wide and nodded.

"He's alright," I said. Blaise did a mock shocked gasp.

"I was dumped for _alright?_" he said dramatically. "Oh, whatever shall I do? How can I go on?"

So, that was all sorted out, quick and easy.

We went out onto the grounds in the afternoon; the snow was untouched except for the deep channels made by the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students on their way up to the castle. Unfortunately, many of the Gryffindors were out there as well, including FAG, Weasley and Harry, who had gotten his Brooke-injuries fixed up by Madame Pomfrey in a second, so we had a massive Gryffindor vs. Slytherin snowball fight. Granger, who was also outside, decided to sit down and watch the fight, like a sooky nerd, and at five o'clock every single girl said she was going back upstairs to get ready for the ball.

"What, you need three hours? To make yourself look good for _that_?" Draco shouted to Serena, gesturing to Weasley, who was looking at both her and Granger incredulously and paying for his lapse in concentration when a large snowball, thrown by George, hit him hard on the side of the head. "Who're you going with?" he yelled after Granger, but she just waved and disappeared up the stone steps into the castle like the rest of us.

Serena, Brooke, Railley, Astoria and I all huddled together in a giggling group as we rushed back to the dungeons, all of us extremely excited. After we had all changed into our dress robes up in our dormitory (even Railley and Astoria, who we had let in instead of Pansy and Daphne, who we had locked out), all of us feeling very self-conscious, we all sat down together and did each other's hair and make-up.

I felt very happy with myself as I watched Railley apply the forest-green-with-silver-sparkles polish to my nails. It matched my dress robes perfectly. So did my make-up, which was forest green shadow and silver liner around my eyes, with a soft pink gloss on my lips and a Preserving Charm on the whole lot so that nothing would smudge or fade.

My hair had been fluffed out and I had a sparkling white-gold goblin-made tiara that was set with shining diamonds and forest green emeralds (before you ask where I got such an expensive item, Sirius had received it as a family heirloom, and he, having no use or want for it, had passed it on to me). I was wearing my emerald pendant version of the Potter Family Crest around my neck on a thick silver chain.

"I still can't work out why you would have dumped Blaise," muttered Railley to me, as she put the Drying Charm, and then the Preserving Charm on my nails. "He's soooo hot!"

"Cougar," I teased her, pulling stray hairs out of my head.

When we were all ready, we stood and scrutinised each other's outfits.

Everyone sighed in envy (I could tell) as I patted down the long, silvery skirt of my dress robes. They were the ones I had seen in the Witch Weekly. The tight top had a low-ish square neckline that was fringed with green, just like the flowing sleeves and my skirt, which also had a slit in it that had green laces tying it. The shoes I had chosen were forest green fake snakeskin ballet flats, which I could wear with dignity because I was quite tall.

Brooke was the most gorgeous of us, besides me. Her robes were sleeveless and had spaghetti straps, and coloured a beautiful indigo. It had a tight bodice and was scrunchy all the way down to her knees, where it stopped. Her nails were metallic blue, as was her eye shadow and her eyeliner was also silver. She had tied small threads over silver and blue into her hair and had put a gorgeous silver head-band in as well. Her shoes were silver high heels, which she needed because she was rather short, even though she looked cute like that.

Railley was probably the next most stunning. Her robes were sexy. They were bright turquoise, which brought off her dark, olive skin, brown hair and golden-brown eyes very nicely, due to the contrast. They had short, gauzy sleeves and were a loose fit. The skirt stretched straight down her amazing body, making it shimmer like a very bright waterfall. Her shoes were black stilettos.

Her eyeliner was black, and her shadow was turquoise. She wore lip-gloss that was bright red and wore her hair in a tight bun on top of her head, making her look like a glamorous muggle movie-star. On one of her slim wrists, she wore a silver bracelet that was a chain of Kiwi birds that had bright turquoise stones set into the middle of them, which she had brought back from a holiday to New Zealand. **(A/N: Will show you at school tomorrow, Searena and brookles and Emara-Skye)**

Serena had gone for a gothic look. Her dress was simply amazing. It was completely black, and had a proper bodice with no sleeves or straps. The skirt was made up entirely of ruffled tiers of black net, which spread all the way to the floor. She had black eye-shadow, black eyeliner, blood-red lip-gloss and black nails. Her dishwater blonde hair fell straight down her back, just tumbling there, with no aid from anyone, besides the brush she had taken to it. She wore glittery black ballet flats. Despite the freakiness of the gothicness, she looked amazing.

Astoria looked cutely pretty. She was wearing pink dress robes that had straps and a gorgeous wide skirt. Her make-up was simple: rose eye-shadow, light-brown eyeliner and rose lip-gloss. She looked like a little flower. Her pretty platinum hair was curled up in long ringlets and her pale skin glowed. Her pink sandals had a small heel.

When we entered the common room, we noted how strange it looked, full of people wearing different colours instead of the usual mass of black. All of us who had Slytherin dates found their dates waiting for them at the foot of the stairs.

They all looked very dashing and fit in robes of an identical style, although each of them wore a different colour. Blaise's were turquoise. Theo's were metallic blue. Draco's were light grey. And Lucifer, who didn't even have a date, saying that he preferred to go alone if he couldn't go with one of us, was wearing robes of plain black. They all looked relieved to see us, as though they had been worried we wouldn't turn up.

Draco sauntered up to me, looking uncomfortable, even with his eyes wide open in shock and surprise, an emotion that I could faintly remember seeing on his face the first time I had met him, on the Hogwarts Express four summers before.

"You - you look… beauti- nice," he said awkwardly. "You look nice."

"Thanks," I said, although I was feeling quite discouraged by the pathetic compliment for some reason. "Be nice to Astoria, she's so excited," I added to him, in what I could have sworn was a dismal voice.

"Right," he replied, looking around awkwardly. "Where's Diggory?"

I shrugged. "I'm supposed to meet him in the Entrance Hall."

"Okay," he said. "We should probably get going, then. Come on, Astoria and I will walk with you."

The entrance hall was packed with students too, all milling around waiting for eight o'clock, when the doors to the Great Hall would be thrown open. Those people who were meeting partners from different Houses were edging through the crowd trying to find one another. I saw Harry scanning the crowd for Cho Chang, and then enveloping her in a massive hug when he found her. Weasley was standing with FAG, impatiently tapping his foot and looking around, although I doubted that it was for Serena so much as for Granger, who was nowhere in sight.

"Hi," said a voice from behind me, as a hand shoved itself into my hair, messing it. I spun around and saw Cedric, standing behind me grinning nervously and looking (I was glad to see) very hot and bothered about my outfit.

"Hi," I said back, smiling angelically. "Ready for some fun?"

Cedric nodded, as Fleur Delacour passed, looking stunning in robes of silver-gray satin, and accompanied by Benjamin Lecroix, who looked even fitter than usual. When they had disappeared, Harry and Weasley walked over to me.

"Where is Hermione?" Harry asked. "Have you seen her?" He narrowed his eyes suspiciously and glared at Draco, then at me. "Your friend Camydac didn't do anything to her, did she?"

The rest of the Slytherins came up the steps from our common room. Brooke and Theo were standing up the front, both clutching at each other and sniggering privately. Blaise and Railley stood just behind them, laughing with Serena and Lucifer, both of whom looked a little gloomy. Crabbe and Goyle were also with them, both wearing green; they resembled moss-colored boulders, and neither of them, Harry was pleased to see, had managed to find a partner. Unless Pansy and Daphne, who were linking arms and were wearing matching frilly pink robes, were their dates for the night, but I doubted that.

Serena slumped over to Weasley, looking down her nose at him.

"Try anything and your body won't even make it to the morgue," she threatened him. I watched him swallow nervously and he went back to watching for Granger.

"HARRY!" shouted a familiar voice, and Cho flew from out of the darkness, attaching herself to my brother. "I was so worried that I wouldn't find you, I'm so glad I did…This is going to be great fun, don't you think?"

As Harry nodded enthusiastically, he waved a quick goodbye to me, and Serena rolled her eyes and went with him, Cho and Weasley to join the party for the mortals. A.K.A. people who weren't champions or their partners.

The oak front doors opened, and everyone turned to look as the Durmstrang students entered with Professor Karkaroff. Krum was at the front of the party and he was accompanied by a plainly pretty girl in blue robes that I had never seen before.

Over their heads I saw that an area of lawn right in front of the castle had been transformed into a sort of grotto full of fairy lights - meaning hundreds of actual living fairies were sitting in the rosebushes that had been conjured there, and fluttering over the statues of what seemed to be Father Christmas and his reindeer.

Then Professor McGonagall's voice called, "Champions over here please!"

I smoothed down my skirt, beaming; Cedric wrapped an arm around me (eliciting a tooth-grinding from Draco) and we both said, "See you in a minute" to my friends and walked forward, the chattering crowd parting to let us through. Professor McGonagall, who was wearing dress robes of red tartan and had arranged a rather ugly wreath of thistles around the brim of her hat, told us to wait on one side of the doors while everyone else went inside; we were to enter the Great Hall in procession when the rest of the students had sat down.

Benjamin and Fleur had stationed themselves nearest the doors; they both looked extremely superior as they smirked and stared smugly into each others eyes. They looked so annoying that I couldn't bear to watch them. My eyes fell instead on the girl next to Krum. My jaw dropped.

It was Granger.

But she didn't look like Granger at all.

She had done something with her hair; it was no longer bushy but sleek and shiny, and twisted up into an elegant knot at the back of her head. She was wearing robes made of a floaty, periwinkle-blue material, and she was holding herself differently, somehow - or maybe it was merely the absence of the twenty or so books she usually had slung over her back.

She was also smiling - rather nervously, it was true - but the reduction in the size of her front teeth was more noticeable than ever; I couldn't understand how I hadn't spotted it before.

"Blimey," I gasped to Cedric. Then I shook my head and called to her, "Compensating her something, Granger, with the size of that arse?"

Granger looked around at me, a smile fading from her lips.

"Could you not just leave me alone for ONE night, Shelby?" she asked me tiresomely. I smirked and shook my head. She just sighed and turned back to Krum, who looked very happy to see her beside him. It was sickeningly cute.

Lavender Brown was just passing and staring at Granger in unflattering disbelief.

She wasn't the only one either; when the doors to the Great Hall opened, Krum's fan club that had been following him around the library stalked past, throwing Granger looks of deepest loathing. Pansy Parkinson gaped at her as she walked by behind Draco, and even he didn't seem to be able to find an insult to throw at her. Weasley, however, was staring across the room at her with a face that resembled an angry red warthog's and with Serena's mouth nearly touching the floor by his side.

Once everyone else was settled in the Hall, Professor McGonagall told we champions and our partners to get in line in pairs and to follow her. We did so, and everyone in the Great Hall applauded as we entered and started walking up toward a large round table at the top of the Hall, where the judges were sitting. The walls of the Hall had all been covered in sparkling silver frost, with hundreds of garlands of mistletoe and ivy crossing the starry black ceiling. The House tables had vanished; instead, there were about a hundred smaller, lantern-lit ones, each seating about a dozen people.

I concentrated on keeping my chest inflated as I grinned superiorly around at everyone. Cedric seemed to be enjoying himself; he was beaming around at everybody, waving forcefully to the sea of friends and admirers he had in the masses. I caught sight of Weasley and Serena as I neared the top table. Weasley was watching Granger pass with narrowed eyes. Serena was looking wistfully in the other direction from his stupid ginger-and-freckles face.

Dumbledore smiled happily as we champions approached the top table, but Karkaroff wore an expression remarkably like Weasley's as he watched Krum and Granger draw nearer. Ludo Bagman, tonight in robes of bright purple with large yellow stars, was clapping as enthusiastically as any of the students; and Madame Maxime, who had changed her usual uniform of black satin for a flowing gown of lavender silk, was applauding them politely. But Mr. Crouch, I suddenly realized, was not there. The fifth seat at the table was occupied by another stupid ginger, Percy Weasley.

When we reached the table, Percy drew out the empty chair beside him, staring pointedly at me. I took the hint and sat down next to Percy, although that was mainly because Serena had caught my eye and was gesturing hurriedly to the same seat that he was indicating, with an expression that told me it was safest to be there when hers and FAG's prank was unleashed.

"I've been promoted," Percy said before I could even say to bugger off, and from his tone, he might have been announcing his election as supreme ruler of the universe. That was something, coming from a massive Slytherin like me. "I'm now Mr. Crouch's personal assistant, and I'm here representing him."

"Why didn't he come?" I asked rudely. I was trying to make the stupid lolly-gagging ginger so offended that he would move away to the centre of the trouble, because I wasn't looking forward to being lectured on something boring like cauldron bottoms all through dinner.

"I'm afraid to say Mr. Crouch isn't well, not well at all," he replied pompously. "Hasn't been right since the World Cup. Hardly surprising - overwork. He's not as young as he was – though still quite brilliant, of course, the mind remains as great as it ever was. But the World Cup was a fiasco for the whole Ministry, and then, Mr. Crouch suffered a huge personal shock with the misbehaviour of that house-elf of his, Blinky, or whatever she was called."

I remembered that. I had witnessed it, in fact, because Sirius had sent me after Harry, who had been caught in the middle of it. The Dark Mark had appeared in the sky on the night of the Quidditch Cup Final when Ireland had won this summer. Harry, Weasley and Granger had all nearly been stunned by Ministry workers, and they had found Harry's wand lying around in the bushes, so they were about to blame him for the Mark, but then a terrified unconscious house-elf named Winky had been found, and she had been accused of conjuring the Mark and identified as Mr Crouch's elf, who had gotten extremely angry and dismissed her, much to her sorrow.

"Naturally, he dismissed her immediately afterward, but - well, as I say, he's getting on, he needs looking after, and I think he's found a definite drop in his home comforts since she left. And then we had the tournament to arrange, and the aftermath of the Cup to deal with - that revolting Skeeter woman buzzing around - no, poor man, he's having a well earned, quiet Christmas. I'm just glad he knew he had someone he could rely upon to take his place."

"And has he stopped calling you Weatherby, O Ginger?" I asked. He blushed profusely and stood up, walking a little way away to sit beside Professor Flitwick at the other end of the table. Cedric raised his eyebrows at me.

"Oh, he just wanted me to sit next to him to keep up appearances, you know," I said airily, rolling my eyes. "I am very glad to be rid of him…"

Ced grinned and ruffled my hair again, making me chuckle and return the favour.

There was no food as yet on the glittering golden plates, but small menus were lying in front of each of us. I picked mine up daintily and looked around - there were no waiters. Dumbledore, however, looked carefully down at his own menu, and then said very clearly to his plate, "Pork chops!"

And pork chops appeared. Getting the idea, the rest of us placed our orders with our plates too. I glanced up at Granger (who had been protesting against lack of house-elf rights, in an organisation she had made up called SPEW, or Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare) to see how she felt about this new and more complicated method of dining - surely it meant plenty of extra work for the house-elves? But for once, she didn't seem to be thinking about S.P.E.W. She was deep in talk with Viktor Krum and hardly seemed to notice what she was eating.

It now occurred to me that he had never actually heard Krum speak much before, but he was certainly talking now and very enthusiastically at that.

"Vell, ve have a castle also, not as big as this, nor as comfortable, I am thinking," he was telling Granger. "Ve have just four floors and the fires are lit only for magical purposes. But ve have grounds larger even than these - though in vinter, ve have very little daylight, so ve are not enjoying them. But in summer ve are flying every day, over the lakes and the mountains -"

"Now, now, Viktor!" said Karkaroff with a laugh that didn't reach his cold eyes, "don't go giving away anything else, now, or your charming friend will know exactly where to find us!"

I snorted. Charming friend indeed!

Dumbledore smiled, his eyes twinkling. "Igor, all this secrecy… one would almost think you didn't want visitors."

"Well, Dumbledore," said Karkaroff, displaying his yellowing teeth to their fullest extent, "we are all protective of our private domains, are we not? Do we not jealously guard the halls of learning that have been entrusted to us? Are we not right to be proud that we alone know our school's secrets, and right to protect them?"

"Oh I would never dream of assuming I know all Hogwarts' secrets, Igor," said Dumbledore amicably. "Only this morning, for instance, I took a wrong turning on the way to the bathroom and found myself in a beautifully proportioned room I have never seen before, containing a really rather magnificent collection of chamber pots. When I went back to investigate more closely, I discovered that the room had vanished. But I must keep an eye out for it. Possibly it is only accessible at five-thirty in the morning. Or it may only appear at the quarter moon - or when the seeker has an exceptionally full bladder."

I laughed loudly and outright at that, and could have sworn Dumbledore had given me a very small wink.

Meanwhile Fleur Delacour and Benjamin Lecroix were bitching about the Hogwarts decorations together.

"Zis is nothing," Benjamin said dismissively, looking around at the sparkling walls of the Great Hall. "At ze Palace of Beauxbatons, we 'ave ice sculptures all around ze dining chamber at Chreestmas. Zey do not melt, of course… zey are like 'uge statues of diamond, glittering around ze place.

"And _our_ food is seemply superb!" Fleur whined. "And we 'ave choirs of wood nymphs, 'oo serenade us as we eat. We 'ave none of zis ugly armor in ze 'alls, and eef a poltergeist ever entaired into Beauxbatons, 'e would be expelled like zat." She slapped her hand onto the table impatiently.

"Zat is right," Benjamin said quickly, slapping his own hand down on the table in imitation of Fleur. "Like zat!"

I looked around the Hall. Hagrid was sitting at one of the other staff tables; he was wearing a horrible hairy brown suit and gazing up at the top table. I saw him give a small wave, and looking around, I also saw Madame Maxime return it, her opals glittering in the candlelight.

Granger was now teaching Krum to say her name properly; he kept calling her "Hermy-own."

"Her-my-oh-nee," she said slowly and clearly.

"Herm-own-ninny."

"Close enough," she said, grinning.

"Hey, Granger!" I called to her. "Do you think you would find Weasley, your lolly-gagging ginger boyfriend, sexy if HE called you Herm-own-ninny?"

She very disappointingly ignored me.

"EXCUSE ME!" a call came from below us. FAG were pushing their way through the crowd, moving toward Lavender Brown's table. They aimed their wands at her and then looked around, doing the thumbs up to Serena, who returned it, standing by the table of my friends and pointing her wand in Draco's face.

Together, she and Fred said an incantation, hitting both Draco and Lavender in some kind of spell. George pointed his wand at a wireless that someone had brought in with them, and a familiar muggle tune struck up, becoming louder and louder and louder, until it drowned all other noise out.

The dreaded Nutbush.

The lights dimmed in the Hall, and suddenly Draco and Lavender were shimmying out to meet each other. They grabbed each others hands, looking horrified, and danced up to the important-person table, climbing on top of it; right in front of Dumbledore's place.

And then they performed the filthiest version of the Nutbush I had ever seen in my life.

As I cracked up laughing, along with everyone else in the Hall, I felt that this night could hardly get any better.

**SURPRISE, PEOPLE WHO THOUGHT I WAS GONNA TAKE ANOTHER MONTH TO UPDATE! Sorry ada-cullen, if I've lost your favourite person-ship, but I DID have schoolwork to do this past couple of weeks…I took valuable time to write this out of science-fair-project-that's-due-in-two-days-time time. **

**Eternal Love to:**

**TheSparkleQueen, Mellie . xo (previous experience has taught me that I must space your name out, so it's without the spaces), Flamewhisper and booklovur217 for story alerting.**

**Shelby (yes, the actual Shelby, who's name I stole- I still haven't gotten around to scaring innocent sevies, Shelby), ada-cullen, nancypancy, Searena (who was distraught that she accompanied Ron to the Ball) and Brookles (who was laughing at Searena's pain and loves her and Theo) for reviewing!**

**I LUVS YA ALL!**

**Yes, I decided to write this in two chapters, cause it's awesomer than Harry's recount of the Yule Ball :D No, Serena and FAG are not over yet, with the pranks. And there shall be a lot of cuteness next chapter, which, of course, Serena will ruin (she already knows what's happening, because she always happens to be around when I come up with brainwaves- just like she's been expecting the whole "FUCKING FRED AND GEORGE!" thing).**

**Remember: Rule No. 3- No parties…UNLESS UMBRIDGE IS INVITED!**

**Yes, Umbridge IS invited! Hehe! Sudden whim, no idea what I'm doing, but I'll make it work.**

**Originally, the dirty Nutbush was going to be with Hermione and Draco, but I decided against it, owing to the fact that FAG probably would never do that to Hermione, unless she did something anti-Weasley or something equally horrible.**

**Has anyone got any good insults to Hermione and other such Gryffindors? I mean, my main characters are Slytherins, and they could always use a few good insults. I think my best in this chapter was ****"Compensating her something, Granger, with the size of that arse?"**** and ****"Do you think you would find Weasley, your lolly-gagging ginger boyfriend, sexy if HE called you Herm-own-ninny?" but I think I could do better. Help is appreciated!**

**Obviously, now that I've used the word FUCK, I am changing the rating to T. Just so you know that I am thinking of innocent children who would probably be searing their heads off themselves anyway…I am beginning to construct a website with images (hand-drawn and found on the net) of the girls' clothes for the Yule Ball. It won't be finished for a while, and I haven't even really started it, so I'll give you the link in my next update.**

**LUVYA!**


	10. EPIDEMIC

-The Unsuspected Evil Butterfly-

Shelby Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Chapter 10-EPIDEMIC!

When all the food had been consumed, Dumbledore stood up and asked everyone else to do the same. Then, with a wave of his wand, all the tables zoomed back along the walls leaving the floor clear, and then he conjured a raised platform into existence along the right wall. A set of drums, several guitars, a lute, a cello, and some bagpipes were set upon it.

The Weird Sisters now trooped up onto the stage to wildly enthusiastic applause; they were all extremely hairy and dressed in black robes that had been artfully ripped and torn. They picked up their instruments and suddenly the lanterns on all the other tables had gone out, and the other champions and their partners were standing up.

"Come on!" Cedric said, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand. "We're supposed to dance, now!"

He smiled at me and offered me his hand, so I smiled back, took it and stood up, feeling for all of the world like a queen of some sort.

The Weird Sisters struck up a slow, mournful tune; I walked onto the brightly lit dance floor, carefully avoiding catching anyone's eye except Cedric's (I knew that it was best to maintain eye contact with your dance partner), and next moment, Cedric and I were slow-dancing.

It was every bit as amazing as I'd always dreamed. I felt calm, relaxed and beautiful, revolving slowly on the spot. I kept my eyes fixed on Cedric's, and was pleased to find that he was keeping his own locked in mine. I looked deep into his grey irises, thinking how pretty they were, especially as they were so similar to the silvery orbs that Draco possessed…

_You have to stop going on about Draco, Shelby! _I thought, almost being stupid and shaking my head. _You and him are NOT even up for consideration! You don't even LIKE him!_

Very soon, many of the other watching couples had also come onto the dance floor, so that we champions were no longer the centre of attention. Serena was holding Weasley's arms as far away from her body as possible while stepping on his toes on purpose- Brooke and Theo were dancing nearby – they were wrapped together happily, slowly rotating and looking lost in their own little world – and Dumbledore was waltzing with Madame Maxime.

He was so dwarfed by her that the top of his pointed hat barely tickled her chin; however, she moved very gracefully for a woman so large. Mad-Eye Moody was doing an extremely ungainly two-step with Professor Sinistra, who was nervously avoiding his wooden leg.

"Enjoy it while it lasts, Miss Potter," Moody growled as he passed, his magical eye darting around.

"Oh – yeah, well, I'd rather go out burning!" I replied, grinning.

"He's really weird, isn't he?" Cedric commented quietly as Moody clunked away. "I don't think he should be allowed to be so- so..."

"Morbid?" I threw in helpfully, tightening my grip on his hand slightly. "It's alright, I can handle morbid…"

I heard the final, quavering note from the bagpipe with a frown. I had felt so contented, dancing like that. The Weird Sisters stopped playing, applause filled the hall once more, and I let go of Cedric's arm, although I held onto his hand still.

"Sit down or keep dancing?" he asked me in a gentlemanly way.

"Well, this is a good song!" I said as the Weird Sisters struck up a new song, which was much faster.

"Good, 'cause I'm not about to sit down yet," he laughed, and he led me straight to the middle of the dance floor, past Fred and Angelina Johnson, who were dancing so exuberantly that people around them were backing away in fear of injury.

After a long half hour of dancing which only felt like ten minutes, Cedric left to find his mates and get some punch while I migrated to my friends' table.

"You looked like you were having fun…" Serena teased me, rubbing a lot of antiseptic liquid onto her hands, no doubt trying to get rid of the ginger germs she had gotten in the dance.

"Well, Cedric is a great dancer…" I replied, eyeing Draco. He looked miffed and was ignoring poor Astoria, although she was sitting and chatting to Railley and Blaise about Quidditch. Brooke and Theo were still dancing and Lucifer was staring at his shoes under the table.

I glanced over at Harry and Cho, who were just about to sit down with Weasley. Serena noticed and made a gesture at me, which I knew meant, "Yeah, yeah, hurry up and find out if you did a good job or not!"

With that approval, I ducked into Harry's mind.

"So, how's it going?" Harry asked Weasley cheerfully, pulling a chair out for Cho before sitting down himself and opening a bottle of butterbeer.

Weasley didn't answer. He was glaring at Granger and Krum, who were dancing nearby. Cho sat down on the chair Harry had set out for her and leaned over, closer to Harry. She seemed to be pretty happy.

"We just COULDN'T dance anymore; we got so tired after the tenth song!" Cho gushed. "I never would have guessed that you were such a cool dancer, Harry!"

"What?" said Harry in a startled tone. "You think I'M a cool dancer?"

"Well, I had fun dancing with you," she beamed.

And then, before my very eyes, (oh, alright! _Harry's _eyes) my brother got his first kiss.

I was absolutely disgusted. Especially as I got the full-on from-his-perspective view and everything, along with his thoughts.

_I love this girl. And snogging is the best thing ever._

Granger suddenly came over and sat down in an empty chair. She was a bit pink in the face from dancing.

"Oh, please Harry, Cho, everyone can see you!" she said in her usual know-it-all voice, although she seemed rather happier and less frumpy than usual.

There was a noise like a plug being withdrawn as Harry and Cho separated.

"Hi," said Harry, blushing, as Cho smoothed her robes and her hair. Weasley didn't say anything.

"It's hot, isn't it?" said Granger, fanning herself with her hand. "Viktor's just gone to get some drinks."

Weasley gave her a withering look. "Viktor?" he said. "Hasn't he asked you to call him Vicky yet?"

She looked at him in surprise. "What's up with you?" she said.

"If you don't know," he replied scathingly, "I'm not going to tell you."

Granger stared at him and then at Harry, who shrugged.

"Ron, what -?"

"He's from Durmstrang!" spat Weasley. "He's competing against Harry's sister! Against Hogwarts! You - you're -" Ginger King was obviously casting around for words strong enough to describe Granger's crime, "fraternizing with the enemy, that's what you're doing!"

I rolled my eyes (back in my own body) as Granger's mouth fell open.

"Don't be so stupid!" she said after a moment. "The enemy! Honestly - who was the one who was all excited when they saw him arrive? Who was the one who wanted his autograph? Who's got a model of him up in their dormitory?"

Weasley chose to ignore this. "I s'pose he asked you to come with him while you were both in the library?"

"Yes, he did," Granger replied, the pink patches on her cheeks glowing more brightly. "So what?"

"What happened - trying to get him to join SPEW, were you?"

"No, I wasn't! If you really want to know, he - he said he'd been coming up to the library every day to try and talk to me, but he hadn't been able to pluck up the courage!"

Granger said this very quickly, and blushed so deeply that she was the same colour as a tomato.

"Yeah, well - that's his story," said Weasley nastily.

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Obvious, isn't it? He's Karkaroff's student, isn't he? He knows who you hang around with… He's just trying to get closer to Harry - get inside information on him - or get near enough to jinx him -"

Granger looked as though Weasley had slapped her. When she spoke, her voice quivered.

"For your information, he hasn't asked me one single thing about Harry, not one -"

Weasley changed tactics at the speed of light.

"Then he's hoping you'll help him find out what his egg means! I suppose you've been putting your heads together during those cosy little library sessions -"

"I'd never help him work out that egg!" said Granger, looking outraged. "Never. How could you say something like that - I want Shelby or Cedric to win the tournament, same as you and Harry!"

"You've got a funny way of showing it," Weasley sneered.

"This whole tournament's supposed to be about getting to know foreign wizards and making friends with them!" she said hotly.

"No it isn't!" shouted Weasley. "It's about winning!"

People were starting to stare at them.

"Ron," said Harry quietly, "I haven't got a problem with Hermione coming with Krum -"

But Weasley ignored Harry too.

"Why don't you go and find Vicky, he'll be wondering where you are," he said.

"Don't call him Vicky!"

Granger jumped to her feet and was about to storm off across the dance floor, when she seemed to remember something.

"I can't go, Viktor knows to find me here," she seethed, settling back down into her seat.

There was an awkward silence as Granger and Weasley looked away from each other and Harry and Cho looked uncomfortable.

Cho looked like she wanted to take Harry away and snog him again, but, luckily, before I had to witness such a thing, a Beauxbatons boy came up and asked Cho to dance.

"Umm…Harry, you don't mind, do you? Promise I'll be back soon!" Cho asked him.

"Nah," said Harry, turning to look at her. "Have fun, alright Cho?"

"Thanks, Harry," Cho said, smiling, going with the boy, although she refused to take the hand he had offered her.

I went back into my own mind again. Everyone except Serena was gone. She was looking at me expectantly.

"So, how did it go?" she asked coolly, chugging a bottle of what I recognised as Firewhiskey. She had probably smuggled a lot of that in with her. She saw me eyeing the bottle and said "Want some?"

I nodded, and she found another bottle in a bag she had under the table. I popped it open and took a swig, loving the fiery feeling it gave me as it went down my throat.

"I did well, I just witnessed Harry's first kiss," I told Serena. "From Harry's point of view…"

"Ugh, gross!" she replied. "Why the hell any girl would want to snog your brother, I do not know…"

"Speaking of hell, Weasley was being a real arse to Granger," I continued. "'Cause she came with Krum, you know. I think the Ginger King has a crush!'

"Ha!" Serena cackled. "The same as I said about Harry applies to those two, as well. But it figures…a beaver and a weasel, both rodents and both annoying…"

"Yeah," I agreed.

"Want to go dance again, Shell?" a smooth voice said from behind me. I turned and saw Cedric.

"Sure!" I said, smiling warmly and standing. He held out his arm and I slipped mine through his. Serena was pouting.

"You just got back!" she protested. I shrugged.

"Come and sit in the middle and make fun of everyone, then!" I told her rather rudely, starting to walk off with Cedric. From the corner of my eye, I saw her scowl and follow us, grabbing a chair and a bowl of random popcorn on her way.

The song that was playing was another slow one. I held onto Cedric tightly, feeling relaxed and content. Suddenly, in a spot not far from Cedric and I, the crowd was clearing, forming a circle around two figures…Brooke and Theo…

Theo was taking a ring off his finger and holding it out to Brooke. Several girls gasped loudly, shouting "YOU CAN'T DO THAT! YOU'RE INCREDIBLY UNDERAGE!"

"Ooooohhh!" shouted Dumbledore. "I love a good wedding!"

"Brooke," Theo said. "My cousin in America told me about this tradition that they have. And I wanted to try it because it'll be unique here in Hogwarts, which is kind of like how I think of you…"

Brooke looked very flattered and took the ring in her fingers.

"What is the tradition?" she asked, looking a little shy with all the people watching.

"Well, you see, in America, giving a girl your ring is a symbol of love and affection. And I-I like you Brooke. I like you a lot. In fact, I'm pretty sure I love you! Will you-"

Once again, several girls gasped loudly as he got on his knee.

"-be my girlfriend?"

Then the girls all sighed with relief and understanding (for once).

"NO! I LOVE a good wedding!" Dumbledore's voice rang out from across the hall.

Brooke looked teary and red in the face, but she said "YES!" very loudly and ran into Theo's arms, and snogged him blue.

"OH PLEASE!" shouted Serena, who was sitting on her chair and stuffing her face with buttery popcorn. Everyone who had been in the circle that surrounded Brooke and Theo turned to stare at her. She turned around, looking straight at Cedric and I, who were, I suddenly realised, holding each other extremely tightly and intimately.

"GET A ROOM!" she shouted.

She then turned to face Harry's table. Harry, Weasley and Granger were all looking in opposite directions to each other.

"HURRY UP AND HAVE A THREESOME ALREADY!"

Granger, Weasley and Harry all looked at her, each of them with shocked and angry expressions on their face.

Serena pulled another bottle of Firewhiskey out from under her robes and took a big drink from it.

"Draco, I am your date, and you've barely spoken to me all night!" an enraged voice screamed. It was Astoria.

"Oh, shut up, Astoria!" Draco snapped back. "You were only a second choice, you know! Because the only girl I wanted to go with already has a date!"

"FINALLY, SOME PEOPLE WITH SOME SENSE!" Serena shouted drunkenly, waving her bottle of Firewhiskey around in the air, where it slopped fiery red liquid all over the floor.

Draco and Astoria turned to stare at her. It now seemed that everyone in the Hall had their eyes on her. She tottered around on the spot drunkenly, unaware of anyone looking at her.

Lucifer, who looked extremely concerned, walked over to her.

"Serena, are you alright?" he asked, grasping her arm in an attempt to keep her steady. She looked at him with an unfocused gaze, before blinking and grinning wide.

"Hey Lushifer!" she said loudly and enthusiastically. "You jusht shpoke to me directly! OI, SHELBY!"

I released myself from Cedric's arms and walked over to Serena hurriedly.

"Are you feeling okay, Serena?" I asked, torn between concern for my friend and amusement at her drunken state.

"I'M FINE!" she shouted in glee. "LUSHIFER SHPOKE TO ME! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?"

I glanced at Lucifer.

"There you have it, mate," I told him. "Now you know she's nuts about you."

He looked doubtful.

"She's drunk…" he said.

"And they say that you don't just do stupid stuff when you're drunk, just stuff that you've always wanted to do anyway but never had the guts…" I cut him off. **(A/N: I got that from The Simpsons)**He smiled at me in a sad way and shook his head.

"HEY, FAG!" Serena bellowed to the twins, both of whom had been laughing hysterically with Johnson and Spinnet. They both turned to stare at her instantly, wearing identical scowls of frustration.

"ROLL THE EPIDEMIC!" she screamed back and both the twins lightened up, grinning mischievously at each other.

Meanwhile, I looked at Serena, my eyes wide open in horror.

"There's more?" I whispered. "But if you already did something funny then…oh no. This is either going to be harmful, embarrassing or annoying…or all three…"

She responded by giggling evilly.

I paled instantly, as everyone else in the Hall must have too.

I looked back to FAG and found that they had disappeared. I looked around for them frantically and found them lurking behind the deserted teacher/champion/judge's table. Suddenly, another voice, coming from that direction shrieked, "DUMBLEDORE, IT IS TIME!"

"Ah, yes," a voice from behind me said and Dumbledore strode up to the table to catch everyone's attention.

"Excuse me, all students, teachers and judges in the Hall!" he called. The room quietened right down and everyone turned to face him as he reached under the table and pulled the Sorting Hat out. "The Sorting Hat is here by its own special request, as he has an important announcement to make…"

Everyone stared expectantly at the Sorting Hat as Dumbledore set him down on the table in front of him. My eyes flashed with worry.

"Nervous, are you Shelby?" asked two identical voices from behind me. I jumped and turned to face FAG.

"What is it going to do, you monsters?" I asked them and Serena.

"You're about to see!" Fred said, cackling.

Back at the table, the Hat took a deep breath and then…started to sing, much to everyone's shock.

"_It's a Hogwarts thing_

_It's a Hogwarts thing_

_We like to categorize many things_

_It's a Hogwarts thing, it's a Hogwarts thing_

_Come on, join in, help us sing!_

_It's a Hufflepuff thing, _

_It's a Hufflepuff thing_

_You like to dance and you like to sing_

_It's a Hufflepuff thing, it's a Hufflepuff thing_

_You're in love with everything!_

_It's a Gryffindor thing_

_It's a Gryffindor thing_

_You like being brave and eating things_

_It's a Gryffindor thing, it's a Gryffindor thing_

_You just think that you're the king!_

_It's a Slytherin thing_

_It's a Slytherin thing_

_You like being mean and killing things_

_It's a Slytherin thing, it's a Slytherin thing_

_You like using Mudbloods for torturing!_

_It's a Ravenclaw thing_

_It's a Ravenclaw thing_

_You like reading books and learning things_

_It's a Ravenclaw thing, it's a Ravenclaw thing_

_I can't finish this verse because you're too boring!_

"_THANKYOU!"_

At first, I saw nothing bad about this prank. Everyone else was staring around in confusion and people were murmuring. It wasn't until FAG and Serena shouted out, "IT'S AN EPIDEMIC!" that I understood.

The tune to this particular song was very boppy and very, _very _catchy. It was one of those songs that you could have stuck inside your head for weeks, months, years even! This was certainly going to be pissing me off for a long time…and everyone else in the school at that point in time as well…plenty of people would be humming it in the hallways…

AND WE WEREN'T GOING TO BE ABLE TO GET RID OF IT.

"What. Have. You. DONE?" I growled at the trio that stood behind me, pissing themselves with laughter. "I'm going to have something the three of you wrote stuck in my head for the rest of my school life at the very least? I might as well kill myself now and save myself the misery!"

FAG exchanged a glance and then both walked closer to me. Each of them grabbed one of my shoulders and started to lead me away from Serena.

"But, seriously Shelby, getting away from the Epidemic…for now…we noticed that you have turned up to the ball with one Cedric Diggory, your enemy," George said.

"And we wondered what a little hottie like you was doing with a turd like him…especially in such a modest outfit," Fred continued.

"Although it still looks hot, it wasn't as dirty hot as we would have liked," George added hurriedly.

"Anyway, George and myself just wanted to let you know that Diggory is far from being a real man. A real man has a very good sense of humour, like yours truly…or at least a certain amount of pubic hair, like George. But more the first one than the other. A real man also has a cute, tight butt- like me- or a very prominent Adam's Apple- like George- and the _real _man here just wanted to tell you that when you realise how unreal Diggory is you have a free ticket with us," Fred said.

I eye them suspiciously.

"Wouldn't dating me ruin your reputation?" I asked, crossing my arms.

They shrugged simultaneously.

"We don't allow ourselves to be defined by our girlfriends," George explained.

"By the way, pass the message on to Serena," Fred told me before both swept away.

Suddenly, from behind me, a loud clunk was heard. I looked down and Serena was lying on the ground, her face looking very sickly and her eyes closed. Lucifer, who had started to wander off again, came back immediately.

"Professor Snape!" I called to my Head of House. I knew he would be the most sympathetic professor, as he rarely if ever got a Slytherin in trouble. He came over at once, although he unfortunately brought Dumbledore, McGonagall and Moody with him.

"What is going on here, Miss Potter?" Snape asked.

I gestured to Serena.

"She's passed out, Sir."

Dumbledore gave her a long calculating look before turning to his colleagues.

"Well, my good sirs and madam," he said. "From the look on Miss Dyob's face, I am afraid that something terrible must be sneaking around here…either that or she's drunk. But I think it wiser to assume the former. What is your input?"

Everyone nodded firmly. Moody seemed to be eyeing me (with both magical and normal eyes) with a malevolence that told me he was worried about me…but I knew that she was just drunk.

Out of the blue, a giggle sounded from Serena's mouth.

"I vote for the firsht one ash well!" she shouted like a five year old would when commenting on a cute puppy.

All the teachers exchanged glances and stared at her.

"Drunk," McGonagall commented with tight lips. "Very drunk."

"Agreed," growled Moody while Dumbledore nodded gravely and Snape remained silent.

"Well, I think that this kind of unacceptable behaviour warrants fifty points from Slytherin and another month of double-detention," McGonagall continued. "Severus?"

"I may be her Head of House, _Minerva, _but I play no part in her drunken state and she has not really embarrassed my house so much as the rest of the school, so if that is what you are decided on, just give her the punishment and be done with it," Snape replied. Then he smirked at her unpleasantly. "It won't do anything to Slytherin's chances in the House Cup this year, unlike Gryffindor, who I hear are in drastically low figures."

McGonagall flushed angrily, but gave Serena her punishment (while she lay giggling madly on the floor) and left. Moody followed and then Dumbledore. I looked up at Snape.

"Escort her to the hospital wing, Miss Potter," he directed me. I murmured a "Yes, Sir" and was about to lean over and pick my friend up when Lucifer stopped me.

"I'll take her, Professor," he said. Snape nodded curtly.

"Very well, Yaxley," he responded before turning to leave. Lucifer bent down and grabbed Serena's arms, using them to pull her into a sitting position and then he slipped his arm under her legs and put the other at her back so he could lift her up, holding her in the bridal style.

"Seeya, Shelby," he mumbled, walking off in the direction of the hospital wing with Serena in his arms practically squawking in delight at the thought of being held by her dream man.

As I watched them go, I felt a tap on the shoulder. I turned and my eyes met with a pair of silvery-grey ones that looked sad and slightly urgent.

"Wanna dance, Shelby?" asked Draco, holding out a hand. I glanced behind his head, to where Cedric was glowering at us, although when he caught my eye, he grinned in a way that made me feel that he was inviting me back to him.

But Draco was my best friend, so I, foolishly ignoring all the implications of danger, took his hand tightly in my own.

"Let's ride, oh Penis-less stud," I replied, smirking.

**Yes, this update has taken forever to finish. No, I do not expect the next one to take a very short time to come up. Sorry folks. I've discovered , a very good teen-lit site and it's consuming my time. You can, however, expect an update in a month, I think.**

**Yeah, I ditched the whole Umbridge thing. I was on a high when I talked about that. I just realised that Shelby defeated the Hungarian Horntail in pretty much the exact way that Harry did in AVPM. Oops?**

**Eternal Love to:**

**Xhex-Athame-Snape and for story alerting.**

**, Zedax, Xhex-Athame-Snape, xXMizz Alec VolturiXx, ada-cullen, Shelby (THE REAL ONE), Azrael the Angel of Death and brookles for reviewing.**

**Xhex-Athame-Snape, -MyStICaL-WiTcHy-ANgeL-. for favourite storying.**

**Giraffe woop (hi!) and for favourite authoring**

** for author alerting.**

**I LUVS YA ALL!**

**p.s. Emara-Skye and Azrael, this is your welcome-back-I-missed-you present. Hope you had fun!**


	11. Dance

-The Unsuspected Evil Butterfly-

Shelby Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Chapter 11- Dance

I placed my hand in Draco's as the music struck up again, a slow, mournfully beautiful love song. Around us, many couples, including the very happy Brooke and Theo and Harry and Cho and Blaise and Railley were starting to turn slowly on the spot, holding each other tight.

Draco put his free hand on my shoulder and I scoffed at him.

"You're fourteen, Draco," I scolded him, yanking at his hand. "I think you might just be mature enough to put your hand on my waist."

He glowered at me and moved his hand down, resting it on my hip. "This is so awkward…" he said through his teeth.

"Come on, Draco, we're best friends! Nothing more or less, right?"

He snorted and looked away.

"That's all you know…"

"Listen!" I suddenly barked at him as the room began to swirl around us. "You have been acting really weird ever since Snape said that there would be a dance. And especially after I accepted Cedric's invitation to the dance! I don't like it. You are being incredibly annoying and I heard you shouting at Astoria and…I want you to stop acting like this. It is putting our friendship in danger and that is not okay. I like being your best friend and we are perfectly suited to one another so just…stop."

He didn't look taken aback as he met my eyes with a hard, nameless emotion glistening in them.

"You have no idea, do you?" he growled. "You have no idea what I'm going on about!"

"Look, just shut up and kiss me!" I blurted out spontaneously, surprising myself completely. I probably would have expected anything after that rather than what happened; for Draco to suddenly grab my face and drag my lips straight towards his.

I considered fighting against him for a brief moment, but my will shattered completely within a second. I gave into the passion and joyful victory that I felt on his lips, tasting the emotions. His tongue touched my lips and I started to part them, allowing him to slip it inside my mouth when he was suddenly knocked away from me.

I looked up at the tall looming figure above me and put my hands on my hips, scowling angrily.

"CEDRIC!" I shouted. "What the hell was that?"

My date for the night rolled his shoulders and glared at Draco, who was lying crumpled on the floor, looking very faint.

"He kissed you!" Cedric said, his face reddening. "The little creep kissed you! And I saw him trying to turn it into a snog…"

"Who I allow to kiss me is none of your concern, Cedric!"

"I realise that," he replied calmly. "But I don't really think that it's overly appropriate to be kissing someone else while you're on a date with me."

I blinked. He had a point; we were at this ball together, as a couple and it would only take a simple kiss to turn us into the next big item at Hogwarts, which everyone probably already thought anyway seeing as we had turned up here together completely out of the blue.

If I kissed Draco, everyone would think that I was cheating on Cedric or something and while I liked to have a notorious reputation kept around me, a slutty one was extremely undesirable. I saw easy girls as being weak and any girl who went around snogging people that she wasn't even with was most definitely easy in my opinion. I didn't want to be like that.

I looked up at my date, staring into his gorgeous face.

"You're right," I said. "Sorry about that, Cedric."

McGonagall turned up at our side.

"Miss Potter, would you care to explain what in Merlin's name Draco Malfoy is doing sprawled on the floor?" she asked sharply. She eyed me suspiciously. "He isn't drunk as well, is he?"

"No Professor," I told her confidently, applying just the right mixture of concern and calm to my face. "He simply tripped over and banged his head on the table."

"Very well then," was her reply. "I'd ask you or Diggory to take him to the Hospital Wing, but you are the champions, I suppose." She turned around and scanned the crowd. "Ah! Crabbe, Goyle!"

The two boulder-like boys came over to us, looking like confunded apes.

"Take Mister Malfoy to the Hospital Wing, if you please," she directed them, pointing at my best friend, sprawled on the floor. They walked to him and each grabbed one of his arms and one of his legs and they carried him between them, stretching his legs open ridiculously and emphasising his penis-lessness.

McGonagall turned back to me.

"If you could try to keep the drama away from you for just a night, Miss Potter, it would be greatly appreciated," she said with a small smile, nodding at Cedric who had his hand placed protectively on my shoulder. "Enjoy the rest of the night…"

"Let's go for a walk," Cedric muttered to me when she left, "get away from here…"

I turned and grinned at him, knowing where this would lead. "Yeah, okay," I said flirtingly.

Pretending we wanted more drinks Cedric and I left the room, edging around the dance floor, and slipping out into the entrance hall. The front doors stood open, and the fluttering fairy lights in the rose garden winked and twinkled as we went down the front steps, holding hands and giggling together, where we found ourselves surrounded by bushes; winding, ornamental paths; and large stone statues. I could hear splashing water, which sounded like a fountain. Here and there, people were sitting on carved benches. Cedric and I set off along one of the winding paths through the rosebushes, but we had gone only a short way when we heard a familiar voice.

"… don't see what there is to fuss about, Igor."

"Severus, you cannot pretend this isn't happening!" Karkaroff's voice sounded anxious and hushed, as though keen not to be overheard. "It's been getting clearer and clearer for months. I am becoming seriously concerned, I can't deny it _"

"Then flee," said Snape's voice curtly. "Flee - I will make your excuses. I, however, am remaining at Hogwarts."

Snape and Karkaroff came around the corner. Snape had his wand out and was blasting rosebushes apart, his expression most ill-natured. Squeals issued from many of the bushes, and dark shapes emerged from them.

"Ten points from Ravenclaw, Fawcett!" Snape snarled as a girl ran past him. "And ten points from Hufflepuff too, Stebbins!" as a boy went rushing after her. "And what are you two doing?" he added, catching sight of me and Cedric on the path ahead.

Karkaroff, I saw, looked slightly discomposed to see them standing there. His hand went nervously to his goatee, and he began winding it around his finger.

"We're walking," Cedric told Snape shortly. "Not against the law, is it?"

"Keep walking, then!" Snape snarled, and he brushed past us, his long black cloak billowing out behind him. Karkaroff hurried away after Snape. Cedric and I continued down the path.

"What's got Karkaroff all worried?" Cedric muttered slowly.

"And since when have he and Snape been on first-name terms?" I said suspiciously.

Cedric shook his head and stared down at me in a way that made me shiver.

"Let's forget about them," he said, pulling me seductively by the hand into the rosebushes, immediately wrapping me in his arms and putting his lips on mine. I moaned as we kissed and I realised that snogging had never felt this good before in my life…except for a couple of minutes before. And then I heard Hagrid speak.

"Momen' I saw yeh, I knew," he was saying, in an oddly husky voice.

Cedric was still hungrily kissing me, but I pushed him away, desperate to hear what was happening. This didn't sound like the sort of scene we ought to walk in on, somehow… so of course I had to know everything about it. I looked around, back up the path, and saw Harry and Cho standing half-concealed in a rosebush nearby.

"What did you know, 'Agrid?" said Madame Maxime, a purr in her low voice.

As much as I definitely didn't want to upset Hagrid, knowing he would hate to be overheard in a situation like this, I needed to know so I could tell my friends everything. My eyes fell on a beetle crawling along the stone reindeer's back.

"I jus' knew… knew you were like me… Was it yer mother or yer father?"

"I - I don't know what you mean, 'Agrid…"

"It was my mother," said Hagrid quietly. "She was one o' the las' ones in Britain. 'Course, I can' remember her too well… she left, see. When I was abou' three. She wasn' really the maternal sort. Well… it's not in their natures, is it? Dunno what happened to her… might be dead fer all I know…"

Madame Maxime didn't say anything and I took my eyes off the beetle and looked over the top of the reindeer's antlers, listening… I had never heard Hagrid talk about his childhood before.

"Me dad was broken-hearted when she wen'. Tiny little bloke, my dad was. By the time I was six I could lift him up an' put him on top o' the dresser if he annoyed me. Used ter make him laugh…" Hagrid's deep voice broke. Madame Maxime was listening, motionless, apparently staring at the silvery fountain. "Dad raised me… but he died, o' course, jus' after I started school. Sorta had ter make me own way after that. Dumbledore was a real help, mind. Very kind ter me, he was…"

Hagrid pulled out a large spotted silk handkerchief and blew his nose heavily.

"So… anyway… enough abou' me. What about you? Which side you got it on?"

But Madame Maxime had suddenly got to her feet.

"It is chilly," she said - but whatever the weather was doing, it was nowhere near as cold as her voice. "I think I will go in now."

"Eh?" said Hagrid blankly. "No, don go! I've - I've never met another one before!"

"Anuzzer what, precisely?" said Madame Maxime, her tone icy.

"Another half-giant, o' course!" said Hagrid.

I froze again. This was amazing news! Well, not for Hagrid but for my gossip inventory…

"'Ow dare you!" shrieked Madame Maxime. Her voice exploded through the peaceful night air like a foghorn; behind him. I heard Harry and Cho fall out of their rosebush. "I 'ave nevair been more insulted in my life!'Alf-giant? Moi? I 'ave - I 'ave big bones!"

She stormed away; great multicoloured swarms of fairies rose into the air as she passed, angrily pushing aside bushes. Hagrid was still sitting on the bench, staring after her. It was much too dark to make out his expression. Then, after about a minute, he stood up and strode away, not back to the castle, but off out into the dark grounds in the direction of his cabin.

"C'mon," I said, very quietly to Cedric. "Let's continue…"

But Cedric didn't move.

"What's up?" I said, looking at him.

He looked around at me, his expression very serious indeed.

"Did you know?" he whispered. "About Hagrid being half-giant?"

"No," I said, shrugging. "So what? He can be the child of a brute if he wants, I don't care…"

"Well, if you're not bothered, we can continue," said Cedric quietly, "come here, cutie…"

"Actually," I said, cutting him off, "let's go somewhere more private…" Harry and Cho had disappeared, probably into a more private clump of bushes and I wanted to seek them out.

We dove into a bush of my choosing- of course, I was going near where I suspected my brother was busy getting laid- and rammed accurately up against a…connected couple.

"OI! WE WERE HERE FIRST, SO IF YOU DON'T MIND-"

"Why, Harry!" I said delightedly, cutting off my disgustingly naked brother in his rant.

Harry pulled away from Cho and stared at me in horror before diving up against her again and pulling her into the bushes.

"Aww, come on Harry!" I called after him, winking at Cedric who was laughing silently but hysterically. "It's not so bad…I'm sure you're not the only one getting lucky!"

Harry's head popped out of the bushes again.

"You're not about to do it, are you?" he asked in a low voice. "Please say no!"

I snorted.

"You were doing it, why can't I?" I reasoned. "Plus, I'm not going to do it, I'm only fourteen!"

He gave me a suspicious look and went back into the bush again.

"Well, that was funny," Cedric said, putting his arms around me.

"Mmm…" I replied.

We snogged for a while out there, waiting for midnight to arrive. When it finally did, we went back into the hall just in time to hear** the Weird Sisters finish playing and everyone giving them a last loud round of applause. **Dumbledore stood up once more and clapped his hands. Suddenly the twelve Christmas trees were consumed in a bright light and then, with a loud cracking noise, they reappeared with a large mountain of presents underneath each one.

"Now, we have two trees for the Gryffindors, two for the Slytherins, two for the Hufflepuffs, two for the Ravenclaws, two for Beauxbatons and two for Durmstrang. You should be able to figure out which tree has your presents under it," Dumbledore said.

I turned to Cedric and smiled.

"I'll meet up with you before you get to bed, wait for me in the Entrance Hall, alright Shell?" Cedric said. I nodded and ran off to my friends…or what was left of them. There was Brooke and Theo but they were all absorbed in each other, damn them. Railley and Blaise had disappeared and Serena, Draco and Lucifer were in the hospital wing. The only other people around were Astoria who was looking very angry and Daphne and Pansy who were trying at the best of times, let alone when they were dressed sluttily and on the arms of a pair of fifth year boys from our house.

"I hope you like your present from me, Brooke," Theo was murmuring. "I charmed it myself."

Brooke picked up a small silver-wrapped package from the floor and began to peel the paper off it, revealing a jeweller's box and inside that box was a glistening silver pendant set with shimmering emeralds. It was made of four letters and one symbol that were intertwined and serpentine…BC & TN.

"Oh, Theo!" Brooke breathed, attracting the attention of all the girls nearby. Pansy and Daphne left their fifth years to stare enviously at the beautiful and sweet gift.

I was watching too, staring at the pendant, but soon enough, when the BC & TN became SP & DM, I forced myself to look away and down at my own presents. I contemplated the small mountain of gifts from my many admirers and began to unwrap them all, feeling glum as I tossed aside useless piece of junk after useless piece of junk, wishing I didn't have to do so alone. I would have gone over to Cedric or taken my stuff to the hospital wing, but I was the Slytherin Princess and Slytherin Princesses didn't show weakness like that.

Of course, there were a couple of nice gifts in my mountain, all of them from my friends. Serena had gotten me this sexy black dagger and holder that I could strap around my thigh. I put it on. She'd probably gotten it as a joke, but I truthfully felt much more secure with the weapon on than I had with just my wand.

Brooke gave me a new set of dress robes. Theo had bought me some matching shoes. Blaise left a hundred galleons and Lucifer had left fifty. Railley gave me makeup.

Sirius and Harry had both sent me stuff too. Harry had given me this adorable little hippocampus model that I had seen in Hogsmeade and commented on to him. He didn't realise that I had liked it because it was the spitting image of my Animagus form. Sirius had left me a set of keys and a note that read _You'll find out what these do soon enough. Hope you're excited for Hogsmeade –Sirius._

I had a sneaking suspicion that it was something illegal.

I also had a heavy package from Alice, full of all this stuff about my mum and dad. The sentiment was cute and I would enjoy reading through it all later. I caught sight of two plain looking books that put me in mind of diaries. Those would be interesting.

And then there were just two gifts left in my pile (well, two gifts that were worthy of note, anyway).

The first was from Draco and it was squirming. I looked inside and found my adorable cat squashed inside. I hadn't seen Thirteen since we had arrived at school this year, as he had decided to wander. I would never had admitted it, but I had missed him a lot.

"Where were you?" I asked him, cuddling him to my chest. He purred and licked my face before grabbing the bag he had come in and pulling a bright green collar out from it. He gave me a long stare and slipped it over his head. I smiled. Draco knew me so well. This present meant the world to me. I put my hand in the bag just in case there was other stuff there and pulled out a black notebook and a note.

_Dear Shelby,_

_I found Thirteen hiding near Hagrid's cabin and knew that you would want him back. I've also given you a diary, to help you rearrange your thoughts. Merlin only knows that if your year is going anything like mine is, you'll need it._

_I love you, my Princess!_

_Your Bestie, Brother and Anything Else You Need_

_Draco_

_P.S. Merry Christmas!_

The second present was heavy and unmarked. I had no idea who it might have been from. All I knew was that I loved it. It was the ancient gold-edged page edition of Alodie- a celebrated magical tale much like the muggle Alice in Wonderland. It was a priceless book and that was perhaps my only clue to the giver- only the very wealthy families could afford to have a copy in their personal libraries.

I was about to look through the lovely thing when the clock struck midnight and we were dismissed from the Hall. Students started to wend their way into the entrance hall. Many people were expressing the wish that the ball could have gone on longer and I agreed. However, I picked up my presents and started to make my way to bed.

I was stopped in the Entrance Hall by Cedric.

"Where was my present from you, you oaf?" I asked him playfully as he offered to carry my stuff for me. I gave half of it over. Needless to say that Alodie was being held in my arms and Thirteen was strutting along proudly behind me.

"Well, I was hoping that my present could be more of a date than anything," Cedric replied, keeping his intense eyes locked on my face. "Hogsmeade isn't too far away and there is plenty of fun to be had…want to accompany me?"

"Sure," I said, "but it doesn't count as my present unless you take me somewhere expensive for dinner."

"But of course I will, Shell!" he said. "I'm not cheap, you know… and there's one other thing I wanted to tell you…"

"Yes?"

"I've almost figured out my egg. There's one other thing I wanted to try and I think it would be cool if you could join me. We're pretty much on the same team, so there's no need for us to compete here…"

"Sure, we can do it together," I told him, not mentioning that I was definitely not doing this to be on the same team as him. I was looking out for myself, as Slytherin Tradition demanded. "What time, what place?"

"I'll let you know soon," he answered, taking a step closer to me. "We'll go on our date before we worry about it. Until then, here's something to remember me by…"

_Merlin, what a gay, corny line, _I remember thinking as he pressed his warm mouth against mine and snogged me. _Draco would never say anything like that…_

I managed to get to bed eventually and I got all my stuff back from Cedric. I was too jitterish to sleep, though, so I decided to check on Harry.

He was still out in the entrance hall. He and Weasley were watching Granger saying good night to Krum before he went back to the Durmstrang ship. Granger gave Weasley a very cold look and swept past him up the marble staircase without speaking. Harry and Weasley followed her but halfway up the staircase, someone yelled out Harry's name.

"Hey, Potter!"

He turned around and I gasped. It was Pansy, who was not looking at all like her usual drunken, slutty self at the moment. She actually looked as though she possessed a brain. Weasley took one look at her, snorted and rushed up to Gryffindor Tower alone, leaving my brother with the psycho.

"What do you want, Parkinson?" he called to her rudely.

"What were you doing here with Chang, eh? She's not good enough for you."

"Why do you care, Parkinson?" Harry asked, confused.

Pansy shook her head and strutted away slowly, pausing only to say, "Times change. People change," before walking off.

Harry walked back to Gryffindor Tower alone. That had been extremely strange. Why would a Slytherin slut like Pansy stop a Gryffindor King like Harry in the staircase to talk to him almost rationally? Was Pansy trying to hurt my brother? Was she trying to make Harry look like a fool? Did she want to get to me through him?

The Fat Lady and her friend Vi were snoozing in the picture over the portrait hole. Harry had to yell "Fairy lights!" before he woke them up, and when he did, they were extremely irritated. He climbed into the common room and found Weasley and Granger having a blazing row. Standing ten feet apart, they were bellowing at each other, each scarlet in the face.

"Well, if you don't like it, you know what the solution is, don't you?" yelled Granger; her hair was coming down out of its elegant bun now, and her face was screwed up in anger.

"Oh yeah?" Weasley yelled back. What an oaf. "What's that?"

"Next time there's a ball, ask me before someone else does, and not as a last resort!"

Weasley mouthed soundlessly like a goldfish out of water as Granger turned on her heel and stormed up the girls' staircase to bed. Weasley turned to look at Harry.

"Well," he sputtered, looking thunderstruck, "well - that just proves – completely missed the point"

Harry didn't say anything. He liked being back on speaking terms with Ron too much to speak his mind right now – I knew that. But we both somehow thought that Granger had gotten the point much better than Weasel had.

Tired from the night and exhausted from the emotions, I severed the connection, quickly undressed and slid into my bed, letting sleep wash over me. As my lids fell shut, my brain formed one thought so strong that it was almost coherent…_Draco!_

**I'M FINALLY BACK! Yes, you can kill me later. Unfortunately, this chapter would exist without Lover of Converse (a.k.a. Azrael the Angel of Death, a.k.a. Searena) who pressured me. Now, as much as I'm sure you all liked being acknowledged in the Author's note, I'm afraid that it is getting too time consuming and I am stopping the practise. However, I would still like to thank everyone that reviews and alerts my story, as it does help and it makes my day!**

**I hope the story hasn't self-destructed due to my pre-longed absence. I'll try to keep it on track. I'm off on my lovely summer holidays now, so we'll see what I get done. Maybe a special edition chapter for Christmas…**

**LUVYA!**


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